Correct as on 20 Nov 2019
You would know a King Pair or Golden Pair-when a batsman is dismissed first ball in each innings.
A Queen Pair or Silver Pair is when it is second ball in each innings.
A Jack Pair or Bronze Pair for three balls.
We also look at pairs involving 4, 5 and 6 balls in each innings.
Note that for many Tests before 2000, balls in an innings were not always recorded.
Here is the updated list of King Pairs:
The 21 cases include a number of recognized batsmen (Richardson, Gilchrist, Javed Omar and Sehwag). Maybe even Agarkar, who made a Test century at Lord’s. Interestingly there is no King Pair at Lord’s.
Now for Queen Pairs:
22 cases here, including two by McGrath in successive Tests in 1998-99.
Dawson and Broad achieved this at Lord’s. The two of them and Mohammad Abbas deserve their own little board at Lord’s.
Recognized batsmen here include OG Smith, Mudassar, Samuels, de Villiers, Babar Azam and Markram. AL Mann and Broad have also made centuries.
While no captain has made a King Pair, Bedi and de Villiers are here.
Now for Jack Pairs:
Vettori, Griffith and Powell are the recognized batsmen here.
Finally we come to 4-, 5- and 6-ball pairs which are much rarer.
One may invent new terms such as Ruby pairs or Sapphire pairs here.
Here, even Ireland’s bowlers inflict these ducks on recognized batsmen.
Gibbs, DS Smith and Bairstow are the recognized batsmen here.
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