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Duckless de Villiers, and a first for Clarke
AB de Villiers and Mike Hussey don't have it, Michael Clarke just acquired one, and Aravinda de Silva took a bloody long time to get one. It's a duck
Travis Basevi and George Binoy
January 16, 2008
Michael Clarke remained rooted to the crease after edging to first slip against India in Sydney, an action for which he was severely criticised. He defended himself by saying he was in shock after getting his "first first-baller in Test cricket". It was indeed Clarke's first duck, after going 46 innings and 1822 runs without one. His team-mate Michael Hussey hasn't made one yet, and during the course of his hundred at the SCG became the second current batsmen to aggregate 2000 Test runs without a duck.
South Africa's AB de Villiers holds the record for the most innings - 63 - without a duck; he has come close, though, getting dismissed for 1 on three occasions. His 2201 runs at an average of 37.30 is also the highest aggregate for a batsman who hasn't yet scored a Test duck; Hussey is following closely behind, needing 81 runs to draw level. Hussey, though, is nowhere close to de Villiers' innings record; a much better average means he has played only 33 innings for his 2120 runs. The real records, though, belong to Aravinda de Silva who went 75 innings and scored 2779 runs before being dismissed for his first zero.
de Silva's first duck came against Zimbabwe, when he was caught by Wayne James off Heath Streak in Bulawayo in 1994. After that he was dismissed for a duck five times in his next 26 innings against New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies. Thereafter he made only one duck in his last 53 innings to finish with a total of seven in 159 innings.