Imagine you come out to bat fresh and lose your wicket on the first ball without scoring a single run. Getting out on the very first ball you face — that too on zero feels crushing, isn’t it?
Well, many batters have gone through the same feeling, bagging first-ball ducks, better known as golden ducks. Whenever a batter gets out on the first ball of their inning without scoring a run, it’s called a golden duck.
So how did the term golden duck emerge?
No one knows how exactly the term got associated with the sport. Back in the day, when a batter got out on zero irrespective of how many balls they faced, it was referred to as a duck.
With time, ducks were categorised into different types, like golden duck, silver duck, diamond duck, etc. And there’s a theory behind the golden duck term.
A duck derives its term from the ‘duck’s egg’, which looks similar to that of a zero (0). When a batter gets out on a first-ball duck, it’s a rare incident like finding an actual golden egg. So the dismissal is referred to as a golden duck.
How does a golden duck occur in cricket?
No batter wants to get out on the first ball, but they might earn a golden duck, either due to their mistake or the bowler’s brilliance.
The batter may not judge the line and length of the ball correctly, getting bowled, LBW out, or handing out a simple catch. Or it might be a case of a strategic dismissal, with the bowler aware of the batter’s weakness before delivering the ball.
Which batters have recorded the most golden ducks in cricket?
Muthiah Muralidaran, who bamboozled batters with his spin, holds the unwanted record for having the most ducks in Test cricket. The legendary off-spinner bagged 14 golden ducks in the longest format.
Another Sri Lankan tops the chart in the One-Day International (ODI) format. Yorker King Lasith Malinga scored 13 first-ball ducks in ODIs.
In T20I cricket, Rwanda’s Kevin Irakoze leads the chart, with over 9 golden ducks in his career.
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