Kent bowler Nathan Gilchrist has equalled an unwanted record after being dismissed for a pair in his side's recent County Championship clash with Yorkshire.
After beginning the season by scoring nine against Essex, Gilchrist has failed to make a single run in each of his next six innings, getting out for pairs in three successive games against Lancashire, Hampshire and now Yorkshire. In the process, Gilchrist has equalled the record for the most consecutive ducks in men's first-class cricket.
Of those six consecutive ducks, he has been out first ball three times, once in each match. According to the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, Gilchrist is the 11th man to suffer this fate in first-class cricket.
In Test cricket, the record for the most consecutive ducks is five and that is jointly held by three men. Australian leg-spinner Bob Holland was out for nought five times in Tests against England and New Zealand in 1985, while India seamer Ajit Agarkar suffered the same fate in his side's 1999-2000 tour of Australia.
Most recently, Pakistan bowler Mohammad Asif was out for five consecutive ducks in Test innings against India, Sri Lanka and England in 2006.
Against Yorkshire, Kent were able to hold out for a draw despite the host scoring 571 in their first innings thanks to mammoth hundreds from Harry Brook and Dawid Malan. Bad light denied Yorkshire the chance to try and chase down the 114 runs they needed to win in 21 overs.
Head coach Ottis Gibson said: "Especially with the way things panned out for us last week, to get ourselves in a position and then not to be able to get across the line, it was very frustrating.
"I'm very proud of the way they fought to the end. Unfortunately, one great big cloud came over and put a stop to everything. We would have had a go in 10 overs. We knew what we had to do. We'd have still backed ourselves to have a right good go."
Kent wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson added: "It was a bit of frustration that, having wrestled the game back into our hands, we gave it away a little bit. It's kind of been the story of our season so far and has put a bit of a sour note on it. But I guess you can't be too disappointed to come away with 11 points after them scoring the best part of 600."
