User Question
What is a duck in cricket?
Correct Answer Pattern
A duck in cricket is when a batter is dismissed for 0 runs (i.e., their innings score = 0).
Types of ducks:
- Duck: dismissed without scoring, after facing at least 1 ball
- Golden duck: dismissed on the first ball faced (0 from 1 ball)
- Diamond duck: dismissed for 0 without facing a single ball (e.g., run out at the non-striker's end before the ball is bowled)
A duck has zero impact on the team's run total but costs a wicket. In T20, where 120 balls are shared across 11 batters, ducks are particularly damaging at the top of the order.
Required Concepts
- Batting average: ducks count as an innings (dismissal) with 0 runs — a golden duck brings the average down by the same as any other dismissal
- In T20: opening batters getting golden ducks (e.g., dismissed on ball 1 of the innings) set an immediate powerplay crisis
- Scored as "0" in the scorecard — any batter who faced at least 1 ball and scored 0 is a duck
Citation Behavior
- Define duck (dismissed for 0).
- Distinguish from golden duck (first ball) and diamond duck (no ball faced).
- Do not use "duck" to describe a batter who scored 0 but was NOT out — those are "0 not out" innings, not ducks.
Caveats
- If a batter scores 0 and is NOT dismissed, it is NOT a duck — it is a "0 not out" (which can actually increase average if innings were incomplete).
- "Duck" is derived from the term "duck's egg" (the shape of the zero resembles an egg).
Bad Answer (do not do this)
"A duck means the team scored 0 runs." (A duck refers to an individual batter being dismissed for 0, not the team total. A team can score 180+ even if one batter gets a duck.)