Cricket Ducks Explained: Golden Duck, Silver Duck, Diamond Duck and a Pair
All the types of cricket ducks — golden duck, silver duck, bronze duck, diamond duck, and what a pair and king pair mean in Test cricket.
In cricket, a 'duck' is a score of zero — when a batter is dismissed without scoring any runs. Ducks come in several varieties depending on how quickly they happen, and a 'pair' (two ducks in the same match) carries special ignominy in Test cricket. Understanding these terms enriches the watching experience and explains why commentators treat a first-ball dismissal so differently from being dismissed on the fifth ball having played and missed.
Types of Ducks
- Duck: Any dismissal for 0 runs. The term originates from the cricket ball resembling a duck's egg (0) when the scorebook shows zero.
- Golden Duck: Dismissed on the very first ball faced for 0. The most embarrassing form of duck — the batter never gets their eye in.
- Silver Duck: Dismissed on the second ball for 0. Less common as a specific term; sometimes used informally.
- Bronze Duck: Dismissed on the third ball for 0.
- Diamond Duck: Dismissed without facing a ball — a run-out off a no-ball, a run-out off the first ball of the innings before the non-striker takes strike, or similar. Exceedingly rare.
- Royal Duck: Sometimes used for an opener dismissed for a duck — specific to opening batters.
A Pair in Test Cricket
A 'pair' occurs in Test cricket when a batter scores 0 in both innings of the same match. This is relatively uncommon for established players and considered deeply unfortunate. A 'King Pair' (or 'Golden Pair') is a pair where both ducks are golden ducks — dismissed first ball in both innings. A King Pair is extremely rare: fewer than 40 King Pairs have been recorded in Test cricket history. Notable King Pairs include Bob Willis (England), who conceded a King Pair against West Indies, and various tail-enders who face hostile bowling in both innings.
Historical Duck Records
Steve Harmison (England) and Zaheer Khan (India) are among the all-time leaders in Test ducks among prominent players. For batters, the most golden ducks in a career are typically recorded by lower-order players. Notable batting ducks: Ricky Ponting famously scored a duck in the first innings of his last Test match. Brian Lara, despite his career 11,953 Test runs, scored ducks that came at critical moments — his first innings duck in the 2000-01 Adelaide Test against Australia contributed to a West Indian collapse. The duck remains cricket's most discussed minor statistical milestone.
Frequently asked questions
What is a golden duck in cricket?
A golden duck is when a batter is dismissed on the very first ball they face, scoring zero runs. It is the most immediate form of failure in batting — the batter has had no opportunity to settle or play themselves in. Golden ducks are particularly costly for top-order batters because they remove a potentially long innings before it begins. For tail-enders, golden ducks are less meaningful statistically but still denote an immediate dismissal. The term 'golden' distinguishes the first-ball dismissal from a regular duck (dismissed for zero but on a later delivery).
What is a king pair in cricket?
A King Pair (sometimes called a Golden Pair) occurs in Test cricket when a batter scores a golden duck (first-ball dismissal for 0) in both innings of the same match. It is among the rarest individual batting outcomes in Test cricket — the batter never scores a run and is dismissed on the first ball twice in the same game. Fewer than 40 King Pairs have been recorded in all Test cricket history. Most King Pairs involve lower-order batters facing hostile fast bowling, but occasional high-profile King Pairs by recognised batters mark significant low points in a career.
Who has scored the most ducks in Test cricket?
James Anderson (England) holds the record for most ducks in Test cricket history, with 55 ducks across 187 Tests (as of 2025). This is not a mark of batting failure so much as a consequence of batting at number 11 against the world's best bowlers across a 20-year career — tail-enders are expected to get out quickly and do so by the most marginal margins. Among recognised batters (numbers 1-7), the leaders in career ducks are typically prolific run-scorers who also have very long careers — more chances to fail create more eventual ducks, even at low rates.