A pair in cricket refers to when a batsman is dismissed for a duck (without scoring) in both innings. It is called a 'king pair' if the batsman gets out for a golden duck [getting out on the first ball he faced] in both innings.
The name originates from the two noughts together being thought to resemble a pair of spectacles; the longer form is occasionally used.
New Zealand fast bowler Chris Martin has been dismissed without scoring in both innings during seven Test matches, three more than any other player. Five players have been dismissed for four pairs of ducks in Tests. Four are bowlers with no great pretensions towards batsmanship – Bhagwat Chandrasekhar of India, Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka and West Indians Mervyn Dillon and Courtney Walsh – but the fifth is top order batsman Marvan Atapattu of Sri Lanka. He started his Test career with just one run in six innings – including two pairs – and has bagged two more since. The 14 men who have collected three pairs include Glenn McGrath, Curtly Ambrose and Andrew Flintoff.
As on November 2016 42 batsmen have been dismissed for a pair on their debut in Test cricket:
Fred Grace for England v Australia at The Oval in London 1880Clarence Wimble for South Africa v England at Cape Town in 1891/92Joseph Willoughby for South Africa v England at Port Elizabeth in 1895/96Johannes Kotze for South Africa v Australia in Johannesburg in 1902/03Percy Twentyman-Jones for South Africa v Australia in Cape Town in 1902/03Tommy Ward for South Africa v Australia in Manchester in 1912Percy Lewis for South Africa v England in Durban in 1913/14Cecil Dixon for South Africa v England in Johannesburg in 1913/14Ted Badcock for New Zealand v England in Christchurch in 1929/30Ken James for New Zealand v England in Christchurch in 1929/30Jim Smith for England v West Indies in Bridgetown in 1934/35Gordon Rowe for New Zealand v Australia in Wellington in 1945/46Len Butterfield for New Zealand v Australia in Wellington in 1945/46Cuan McCarthy for South Africa v England in Durban in 1948Alf Valentine for the West Indies v England in Manchester in 1950Ram Ramchand for India v England at Headingley in Leeds in 1952Graham Gooch for England v Australia at Edgbaston in Birmingham in 1975Brendon Bracewell for New Zealand v England at Lords in 1978Mike Whitney for Australia v England in Manchester in 1981Maninder Singh for India v Pakistan in Karachi in 1982/83Ken Rutherford for New Zealand v West Indies at Port of Spain in 1984/85Chris Kuggeleijn for New Zealand v India in Bangalore in 1988/89Rashid Patel for India v New Zealand in Bombay in 1988/89Marvan Atapattu for Sri Lanka v India in Chandigarh in 1990/91Saeed Anwar for Pakistan v West Indies in Faisalabad in 1990/91Allan Donald for South Africa v West Indies in Bridgetown in 1991/92Stephen Peall for Zimbabwe v Pakistan in Karachi in 1993/94Peter McIntyre for Australia v England at the Adelaide Oval in 1994/95Dirk Viljoen for Zimbabwe v Pakistan in Bulawayo in 1997/98Gavin Hamilton for England v South Africa in Johannesburg in 1999/00James Franklin for New Zealand v Pakistan in Auckland in 2000/01Alamgir Kabir for Bangladesh v Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2002/03Hasantha Fernando for Sri Lanka v South Africa in Johannesburg in 2002/03Lasith Malinga for Sri Lanka v Australia in Darwin in 2003/04Chamara Silva for Sri Lanka v New Zealand in Christchurch in 2006/07Chris Tremlett for England v India at Lords in 2007Mark Gillespie for New Zealand v South Africa at Centurion in 2007/08Dean Elgar for South Africa vs Australia at Perth in 2012/13Natsai M'shangwe for Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh at Khulna in 2014Rajendra Chandrika for West Indies vs Australia at Sabina Park in 2015Alzarri Joseph for West Indies vs India in St Lucia in 2016Kamrul Islam Rabbi for Bangladesh vs England in Chittagong in 2016These unfortunate batsmen all bagged pairs in two Tests in a row.
Bobby Peel (England, 1894–95)Bob Crisp (South Africa, 1935–36)Wayne Clark (Australia, 1977–78)Pat Pocock (England, 1984)Bob Holland (Australia, 1985/1985-86)Mark Waugh (Australia, 1992–93)Glenn McGrath (Australia, 1998–99)Ajit Agarkar (India, 1999–2000)Merv Dillon (West Indies, 1998-99/2000-01)Dinanath Ramnarine (West Indies, 2001–02)Shabbir Ahmed (Pakistan, 2005/2005-06)Ajit Agarkar and Bob Holland were each dismissed for five consecutive ducks, a record they share with Mohammad Asif for Pakistan in 2005/2006.
19 captains have been dismissed for a pair.
Joe Darling for Australia v England at Sheffield in 1902Louis Tancred for South Africa v England at The Oval in 1912Vijay Hazare for India v England at Kanpur in 1951/52Harry Cave for New Zealand v West Indies at Dunedin in 1955/56Frank Worrell for West Indies v Australia at Melbourne in 1960/61Richie Benaud for Australia v England at Leeds in 1961Imtiaz Ahmed for Pakistan v England at Dhaka in 1961/62Bishen Bedi for India v England at Delhi in 1976/77Ian Botham for England v Australia at Lord's in 1981Allan Border for Australia v West Indies at Perth in 1992/93Mark Taylor for Australia v Pakistan at Karachi in 1994/95Stephen Fleming for New Zealand v Australia at Hobart in 1997/98Courtney Walsh for West Indies v Pakistan at Rawalpindi in 1997/98Rashid Latif for Pakistan v South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1997/98Nasser Hussain for England v West Indies at The Oval in 2000Jimmy Adams for West Indies v Australia at Melbourne in 2000/01Waqar Younis for Pakistan v Australia at Sharjah in 2002/03Habibul Bashar for Bangladesh v Zimbabwe at Harare in 2003/04Marvan Atapattu for Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Faisalabad in 2004/05AB de Villiers for South Africa v England at Centurion in 2015/16Ian Botham's pair came in his last Test as captain while Mark Taylor, Rashid Latif and Habibul Bashar recorded a pair in their first games as captain.
If a batsman is out first ball he has made a golden duck and if a batsman is dismissed first ball in both innings he has achieved a king pair. This worst of all batting fates has befallen seventeen players in the history of Test cricket so far.
William Attewell for England v Australia at Sydney in 1891–92Ernie Hayes for England v South Africa at Cape Town in 1905-06Bert Vogler for South Africa v Australia at Sydney in 1910–11Tommy Ward for South Africa v Australia at Old Trafford in 1912. Tommy Ward was dismissed in each innings by Jimmy Matthews. Uniquely, both times he came in to bat after two batsmen had been dismissed, giving Matthews a hat-trick in each innings.Ian Colquhoun for New Zealand v England at Eden Park in 1954-55. Twice giving Bob Appleyard a hat-trick opportunity which were denied by Alex Muir in both cases, the second innings was part of New Zealand's 26 all out which was the lowest team score recorded in a Test match.Colin Wesley for South Africa v England at Trent Bridge in 1960Bhagwat Chandrasekhar for India v Australia at Melbourne in 1977–78Gary Troup for New Zealand v India at Wellington in 1980–81Dave Richardson for South Africa v Pakistan at Johannesburg in 1994–95Adam Huckle for Zimbabwe v Pakistan at Harare in 1997–98Ajit Agarkar for India v Australia at Melbourne in 1999–2000Adam Gilchrist for Australia v India at Kolkata in 2000–01Javed Omar for Bangladesh v India at Dhaka in 2007Ryan Harris for Australia v England at Adelaide in December 2010Virender Sehwag for India v England at Edgbaston in August 2011Rangana Herath for Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Sharjah in January 2014James Anderson for England v India at Vishakhapatnam in November 2016King Pairs have been 'bagged' by many players in first-class cricket. Mick Norman of Northamptonshire bagged a king pair in a single day against Glamorgan at St. Helen's in Swansea in June 1964.
When Glamorgan followed on against the Indians at Cardiff Arms Park in June 1946, last man Peter Judge was bowled for a duck by Chandra Sarwate to end the county's first innings. Invited to follow-on, Glamorgan's captain Johnny Clay, who was the non-striker, decided to waive the 10-minute interval between innings, remained in the middle with Judge, and reversed the entire batting order. Sarwate then bowled Judge again, second ball, incidentally with the same ball, and Judge thus achieved the fastest pair in the history of first-class cricket. Zimbabwe opening bat Hamilton Masakadza completed an unusual pair when he was dismissed for a Test duck twice on the same day, 28 January 2012, when his team's two innings were completed within a day.
In limited overs games decided by a Super Over, it is possible for a batsman to be dismissed for a duck in both the regular innings and the super over. Since runs made in super overs are not counted towards a player's statistical record, this is sometimes referred to an "unofficial pair". On 25 July 2013, Shoaib Malik scored an unofficial golden pair for Pakistan International Airlines against Habib Bank Limited, while on 10 January 2014, Moisés Henriques scored an unofficial pair playing for the Sydney Sixers against the Perth Scorchers.
