Most Test ducks: England equal unwanted record

How England equalled the record for most Test ducks in a year

England equalled an unwanted record for the most Test ducks in a single year after more batting failures in the third Ashes Test against Australia in Melbourne.

Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson were the latest players to be dismissed without score in what has become a damaging habit for Joe Root’s team. After four noughts in the innings and five in the match, England’s tally of ducks for the year has now increased to 54, levelling the class of 1998.

With Australia now 4/5 for a 5-0 series whitewash, we take a closer look at England’s glut of ducks during 2021.

Tale of woe

The rot has well and truly set in for England since Sam Curran’s first-ball dismissal against Sri Lanka in Galle in January – and Dom Bess’s shambolic scoreless run-out in the following over.

There was more trouble during the second innings of the second Test defeat to India at Lord’s in August – with Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Sam Curran and tailender James Anderson all out for nought as England were dismissed for just 120.

It was the fourth time this year that four England batters in the same innings have been dismissed without scoring.

The same happened in the second-innings 81 all out in Ahmedabad in February, the first innings of June’s draw with New Zealand at Lord’s and the first innings of the India series at Trent Bridge.

The culprits

England’s recognised batters have been largely responsible for the alarming number of ducks – in contrast to 1998, when tail-enders Alan Mullally, Andy Caddick and Phil Tufnell did their bit to inflate the figures.