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Faf du Plessis: First player to bat 100 innings in International cricket without a duck from debut

Faf du Plessis has been a wonderful addition to South African team for the last three years.

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Faf du Plessis played 101 international matches for South Africa © Getty Images
Faf du Plessis enjoyed a sensational run of form in Zimbabwe Triangular Series, 2014 © Getty Images

South African batsman Faf du Plessis played 101 innings in his International cricket career since making his debut in 2011. He has become the first player to play more than 100 innings in International cricket without getting out for duck. Bharath Seervi presents some stats and records on this.

Faf du Plessis has been a wonderful addition to South African team for the last three years. He made his debut for South Africa in January 2011 in One Day International (ODI) against India at Cape Town. He scored a brilliant 60 on his ODI debut. He made his T20 International debut in September 2012 against England. He scored only four runs in his debut match. Later in November 2012 he was selected into Test team against Australia at Adelaide. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands well and scored 78 in his debut inning and an excellent unbeaten 110 off 376 balls in the fourth inning of the match and saved the test match for his team.

At the end of the triangular series in Zimbabwe, Du Plessis has so far played 28 innings in Tests, 53 in ODIs and 20 in T20Is. And he hasn’t got a duck in any of those. It makes 101 innings and no duck yet. The lowest score he has got out on is 1 which he has got five times. On March 24, 2010 in the T20I world cup match against Bangladesh when he scored his first run he broke the record of his team-mate AB de Villiers as most number of innings from debut without a duck. AB de Villiers had played 84 innings since his debut in 2004 before getting out for a duck in the 2007 World Cup match against Netherlands (the match in which Gibbs smashed six sixes in an over).

Most innings before first duck or no ducks in International cricket career

Innings Batsman Team Start End No. of Days
101* F du Plessis South Africa January 18, 2011 1329*
84 AB de Villiers South Africa December 17, 2004 March 16, 2007 819
71 GO Jones England April 10, 2004 March 28, 2006 717
69 BJ Haddin Australia January 30, 2001 March 27, 2009 2978
62 D Ramdin West Indies July 13, 2005 July 1, 2007 718
59 CH Lloyd West Indies December 13, 1966 February 2, 1974 2608
59 VG Kambli India October 19, 1991 November 7, 1994 1115
58 Yasir Hameed Pakistan May 20,2003 September 30, 2004 499
57 MA Taylor Australia January 26, 1989 March 23, 1991 786
54 KC Wessels South Africa November 26, 1982 November 9, 1984 714
51 AK Davidson Australia June 11, 1953 July 27, 1961 2968
51 UC Hathurusingha Sri Lanka February 22, 1991 September 6, 1993 927
51* Samiullah Shenwari Afghanistan April 19, 2009 1978*

Among the current players, after Du Plessis the player with most innings with no duck yet is Samiullah Shemwari who has played 51 innings so far.

Batsmen playing more than 100 consecutive innings without a duck in International Cricket

With Du Plessis playing over 100 innings without being dismissed for duck, he has become only the eighth batsmen to do so. Most innings played without a duck in International cricket is 173 by Rahul Dravid from January 2000 to February 2004. Next best is 136 by Sachin Tendulkar from July 2008 till his retirement which was in November 2013.

Innings Batsman Team Start End Days
173 R Dravid India January 10, 2000 February 6, 2004 1488
136* SR Tendulkar India July 23, 2008 November 14, 2013 1940
135 AJ Stewart England March 17, 1994 November 28, 1998 1717
122 CL Hooper West Indies December 6, 1997 February 23, 2003 1905
117* JV Coney New Zealand January 9, 1983 March 28, 1987 1539
112 Javed Miandad Pakistan July 23, 1987 June 18, 1992 1792
103 Mohammad Yousuf Pakistan January 29, 2006 November 24, 2009 1395
101+ F du Plessis South Africa January 18, 2011 1329+

Sachin Tendulkar and Jeremy Coney’s sequences did not end till their retirement from International cricket. Among the current cricketers Mushfiqur Rahim has not been dismissed for duck since December 2011 and he has played 69 innings in course.

Other records to aim related to ducks for Du Plessis:

The most number of innings before getting maiden duck in ODIs is 72 by Kumar Dharmasena of Sri Lanka. Du Plessis has batted out 53 ODI innings so far with no duck yet. He needs to do the same for another 20 innings to claim the record.

Most innings before first duck or no ducks in ODI career

Innings Batsman Team Start End Days
105* KC Wessels Australia/South Africa January 9, 1983 October 28, 1994 4310
72 HDPK Dharmasena Sri Lanka August 24, 1994 December 11, 2001 2666
70 CG Greenidge West Indies June 11, 1975 Macrh 31, 1986 3946
68 CD McMillan New Zealand May 20, 1997 January 31, 2001 1352
67 CL Cairns New Zealand February 13, 1991 December 7, 2001 2489
67 GC Smith South Africa March 30, 2002 August 21, 2005 1240
53* F du Plessis South Africa January 18, 2011 1329
53 Ijaz Ahmed Pakistan November 14, 1986 October 27, 1989 1078
51 GM Wood Australia February 22, 1978 September 28, 1984 2410

 

Considering the same record in Tests, the most number of innings played before getting out for duck is 78 by AB de Villiers. Similarly in T20Is, it is Shoaib Malik with 40 innings. Du Plessis has played just 28 Test innings and 20 T20I innings. He has a longer way to go to achieve the records in Tests and T20Is compared to that of ODIs.

(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)

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