Pairs in test and first class cricket

If a batsman is dismissed without scoring he is said to have scored a duck. If he is out twice in a match for 0 he is said to have scored a pair.

Most Pairs in a Test career

Four players have been dismissed for four pairs of ducks in Tests. Three are bowlers with no great pretentions towards batsmanship - Bhagwat Chandrasekhar of India and West Indians Mervyn Dillon and Courtney Walsh - but the fourth is top order batsman Marvan Atapattu of Sri Lanka. He started his Test career with just one run in six innings - including two pairs - and has bagged two more since. The 14 men who have collected three pairs include Glenn McGrath of Australia, India's Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan, Manjural Islam of Bangladesh and New Zealander Chris Martin.

Pairs on Test Debut

36 batsmen have been dismissed for a pair on their debuts in test cricket.
*Fred Grace for England v Australia at The Oval in London 1880

*Clarence Wimble for South Africa v England at Cape Town in 1891/92
*Joseph Willoughby for South Africa v England at Port Elizabeth in 1895/96
*Johannes Kotze for South Africa v Australia in Johannesburg in 1902/03

*Percy Twentyman-Jones for South Africa v Australia in Cape Town in 1902/03

*Tommy Ward for South Africa v Australia in Manchester in 1912

*Percy Lewis for South Africa v England in Durban in 1913/14
*Cecil Dixon for South Africa v England in Johannesburg in 1913/14
*Ted Badcock for New Zealand v England in Christchurch in 1929/30
*Ken James for New Zealand v England in Christchurch in 1929/30

*Jim Smith for England v West Indies in Bridgetown in 1934/35

*Gordon Rowe for New Zealand v Australia in Wellington in 1945/46

*Len Butterfield for New Zealand v Australia in Wellington in 1945/46

*Cuan McCarthy for South Africa v England in Durban in 1948
*Alf Valentine for the West Indies v England in Manchester in 1950

*Ram Ramchand for India v England at Headingley in Leeds in 1952
*Graham Gooch for England v Australia at Edgbaston in Birmingham in 1975
*Brendon Bracewell for New Zealand v England at Lords in 1978

*Mike Whitney for Australia v England in Manchester in 1981

*Maninder Singh for India v Pakistan in Karachi in 1982/83
*Ken Rutherford for New Zealand v West Indies at Port of Spain in 1984/85

*Chris Kuggeleijn for New Zealand v India in Bangalore in 1988/89
*Rashid Patel for India v New Zealand in Bombay in 1988/89

*Marvan Atapattu for Sri Lanka v India in Chandigarh in 1990/91
*Saeed Anwar for Pakistan v West Indies in Faisalabad in 1990/91
*Allan Donald for South Africa v West Indies in Bridgetown in 1991/92

*Stephen Peall for Zimbabwe v Pakistan in Karachi in 1993/94
*Peter McIntyre for Australia v England at the Adelaide Oval in 1994/95
*Dirk Viljoen for Zimbabwe v Pakistan in Bulawayo in 1997/98
*Gavin Hamilton for England v South Africa in Johannesburg in 1999/00
*James Franklin for New Zealand v Pakistan in Auckland in 2000/01

*Alamgir Kabir for Bangladesh v Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2002/03
*Hasantha Fernando for Sri Lanka v South Africa in Johannesburg in 2002/03
*Lasith Malinga for Sri Lanka v Australia in Darwin in 2003/04
*Chamara Silva for Sri Lanka v New Zealand in Christchurch in 2006/07

*Chris Tremlett for England v India at Lords in 2007

Consecutive Pairs

These unfortunate batsmen all bagged pairs in two Tests in a row.

*Bobby Peel (England, 1894-95)

*Bob Crisp (South Africa, 1935-36)

*Wayne Clark (Australia, 1977-78)

*Pat Pocock (England, 1984)

*Bob Holland (Australia, 1985/1985-86)

*Mark Waugh (Australia, 1992-93)

*Ajit Agarkar (India, 1999-2000)

*Dinanath Ramnarine (West Indies, 2001-02)

Agit Agarkar and Bob Holland were each dismissed for five consecutive ducks, a record they share with Mohammad Asif for Pakistan in 2005/2006.

Pairs by Test captains

*Joe Darling for Australia v England at Sheffield in 1902
*Louis Tancred South Africa v England The Oval 1912
*Vijay Hazare India v England at Kanpur in 1951/52

*Harry Cave New Zealand v West Indies at Dunedin in 1955/56

*Frank Worrell West Indies v Australia at Melbourne in 1960/61

*Richie Benaud Australia v England at Leeds in 1961
*Imtiaz Ahmed Pakistan v England at Dhaka in 1961/62

*Bishen Bedi India v England at Delhi in 1976/77

*Ian Botham England v Australia at Lord's in 1981

*Allan Border Australia v West Indies at Perth in 1992/93

*Mark Taylor Australia v Pakistan at Karachi in 1994/95

*Stephen Fleming New Zealand v Australia at Hobart in 1997/98
*Courtney Walsh West Indies v Pakistan at Rawalpindi in 1997/98

*Rashid Latif Pakistan v South Africa Port Elizabeth 1997/98

*Nasser Hussain England v West Indies at The Oval in 2000

*Jimmy Adams West Indies v Australia at Melbourne in 2000/01

*Waqar Younis Pakistan v Australia at Sharjah in 2002/03
*Habibul Bashar Bangladesh v Zimbabwe at Harare in 2003/04

*Marvan Atapattu Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Faisalabad in 2004/05

Ian Botham's pair came in his last Test as captain while Mark Taylor, Rashid Latif and Habibul Bashar recorded a pair in their first games as captain.

King Pairs in Test cricket

If a batsman is out first ball he has made a golden duck and if a batsman is dismissed first ball in both innings he has achieved a king pair.

This fate has befallen eleven players in the history of test cricket so far.

*William Attewell for England v Australia at Sydney in 1891-92

*Bert Vogler for South Africa v Australia at Sydney in 1910-11

*Tommy Ward for South Africa v Australia at Old Trafford in 1912

*Colin Wesley for South Africa v England at Trent Bridge in 1960

*Bhagwat Chandrasekhar for India v Australia at Melbourne in 1977-78

*Gary Troup for New Zealand v India at Wellington in 1980-81

*Dave Richardson for South Africa v Pakistan at Johannesburg in 1994-95

*Adam Huckle for Zimbabwe v Pakistan at Harare in 1997-98

*Ajit Agarkar for India v Australia at Melbourne in 1999-2000

*Adam Gilchrist for Australia v India at Kolkata in 2000-01

*Javed Omar for Bangladesh v India at Dhaka in 2007

Trivia

*Taufeeq Umar of Pakistan was out twice in two balls in unusual circumstances. He was dismissed second ball for 0 in the first innings and run out without facing in the second in the second Test against Australia at Sharjah in 2002-03. This does not count as a king pair, though that was probably of little consolation to the batsman.Fact|date=March 2008

Notable pairs in first class cricket

King Pairs have been 'bagged' by many players in first class cricket. Mick Norman of Northamptonshire bagged a king pair in a single day against Glamorgan at St. Helen's in Swansea in June 1964.

When Glamorgan followed on against the Indians at Cardiff Arms Park in June 1946 last man Peter Judge was bowled for a duck by Chandra Sarwate to end the county's first innings. Invited to follow-on, Glamorgan's extrovert captain, Wilfred Wooller, decided to waive the 10-minute interval between innings, instructed the last pair to remain in the middle and open the innings, and reversed the entire batting order. Sarwate then bowled Judge again, second ball, incidentally with the same ball, who thus achieved the fastest pair in the history of first-class cricket.Fact|date=March 2008

The Primary Club

A "golden duck' is also known as a 'Primary'. In 1955 several young members of Beckenham Cricket Club in Kent who had been dismissed first ball that season, formed a club dedicated to supporting a charity to help blind cricketers. The Primary Club has grown into an international charity making annual donations in excess of £100,000 to a variety of schools and clubs for the blind and partially sighted. Their patron is former England and Kent cricketer Derek Underwood MBE. Membership is open to any player who has been dismissed first ball in any game of cricket. Funds are raised through the selling of ties which should be worn on the Saturday of a test match.

References

* [http://content-www.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/139605.html Cricinfo King Pairs]
* [http://www.cricketarchive.com/cgi-bin/ask_the_player_oracle.cgi Cricket Archive]