HomeCS Martin
Diamond ducks in Tests
October 29, 2019 October 29, 2019 abn397 "diamond duck", Cricket, Cricket duck, Cricket statistics, CS Martin, Duck in cricket, Duck on debut, KR Rutherford, Taufeeq Umar, Test Cricket	"diamond duck", "Test Cricket", Cricket, Cricket statistics, CS Martin, KR Rutherford, Taufeeq Umar
After looking at fast scoring, we look at the lack of scores. Different kinds of ducks and pairs have been enumerated in various posts. We now concentrate on diamond ducks, where a batsman is dismissed without facing a ball. This usually happens when he is run out at the non-striker's end. Less often, it could be when he is stumped or run out off a wide.
The number of balls faced in a batsman's innings was not always recorded in the past. These are the undisputed cases of diamond ducks up to Oct 25, 2019:
The only one to have two of these ducks is CS Martin, sometimes considered as the worst ever batsman in Tests. Ken Rutherford, Umar Gul and Nuwan Pradeep are the only ones to score diamond ducks on debut. Rutherford got a pair, but went on to become a successful batsman. Many years later his son Hamish Rutherford made 171 on debut.
There is no case of a diamond pair. The closest approach to one appears to be that of Taufeeq Umar who scored a pair with innings of 0 and 2 balls, thus scoring 0 in two innings with 2 balls which is the equivalent of a "king pair" or dismissal off the first ball of each innings.
Also note: There have been 152 diamond ducks in ODIs. The last were by AU Rashid and MA Wood, who were the last two batsmen dismissed in the World Cup final between England and New Zealand on July 14, 2019.
There have also been 50 diamond ducks in T20Is.
New Zealand-South Africa Tests review-II
March 30, 2017 August 27, 2017 abn397 Cricket, CS Martin, DW Steyn, GO Rabone, JHB Waite, New Zealand cricket, Q de Kock, South Africa cricket, statistics, Test Cricket	"Test Cricket", Bowling records, Cricket, CS Martin, DW Steyn, Fielding records, GO Rabone, New Zealand cricket, NZ-SA cricket, Q de Kock, South African cricket, statistics
Having covered the general history and batting aspects in Part I, we now turn our attention to bowling, fielding and all-round performances.
Bowling-most wickets (20 and more):
Steyn and CS Martin lead. Kallis and Vettori do not seem to have done too well here.
The most 5wis are by Steyn (6), Martin and Ntini (4 each).
The most 10wis are 2 by Steyn.
Best innings bowling (All cases of 6wi and above):
The two best performances are from the distant past, though KA Maharaj has done well in this series.
Best match bowling (all cases of 9wm and above):
CS Martin's 11-wicket haul was instrumental in NZ's only home victory against SA. Philander has the best figures in recent years.
Best bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls, complete list):
Steyn expectedly heads the averages. But Vettori seems to have had a bad time here.
The best economy rates are 1.43 by Tayfield and 2.03 by JR Reid.
The best strike rates are 33.0 by Steyn (who else?) and 49.6 by Martin.
Fielding-most dismissals (10 and more):
The old-timer John Waite leads, although Boucher has more catches (but less stumpings) than Waite. de Villiers has 9 dismissals as keeper and 13 catches as a fielder. The most catches by pure fielders are 18 by GC Smith and 16 by Kallis. De Kock is moving up rapidly.
Best innings fielding figures (5 dismissals and above):
Best match fielding figures (6 and above):
The most catches by a fielder are 5 by WR Endean.
Best dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.500):
Waite is far ahead, while GC Smith has the highest for pure fielders. De Kock has not played enough yet, and is likely to be the leader in due course.
All-round performance (see the criteria):
Surprisingly, neither Kallis nor S. Pollock meet these relaxed criteria so we are only left with Reid and Vettori. And Vettori's bowling average is truly disastrous.
All-round match performance (50 and 5wi):
Oddly enough, the better-known all-rounders such as Kallis and S.Pollock do not appear here. In case you were wondering, Sir Richard Hadlee's career neatly fitted into South Africa's years of absence.