Nervous noughties

Over on TMSB Exiles, groovyshortlegs noted

[Doug] Bollinger faces his first ball in ODIs, in his 5th match, and [he's] run out without facing another. He has one test, one innings 0*. 6 internationals, no runs, what's the longest streak I wonder?

Turns out the answer to groovy's question is Venkatesh Prasad. He had played in 12 internationals (all ODIs) before he registered his first international run. That run consisted of 2 ducks and 10 DNBs. Nathan Bracken played 11 ODIs before he even got a bat, but got off the mark at the first time of asking. Roger Harper played in 9 matches (3 ducks) before he scored his first run.

The players who actually got to the crease most times without scoring at the beginning of their careers were Brendon Bracewell (who started out with 5 0s - 4 in tests, 1 in an ODI) and Commandur Rangachari (who had 5 ducks before finally scoring in his fourth test).

At least Bollinger's matches have all come in 2009. Some players have taken up to a dozen years to get off the mark in international cricket. Top of the lot is Barbadian George Carew, who made his test debut for the West Indies v. England in Bridgetown on 8th January 1935. He was dismissed for nought in the first innings, and did not get the chance to bat in the second (due to what looks, from this distance, like a rather generous declaration). It was 1948 before he got another chance to break his duck, but it was an opportunity he seized, scoring 107 v. England in Trinidad. History has paid rather more attention to his opening partner, Andy Ganteaume (whose century remains the only one scored in a batsman's only test innings), but Carew set a record of his own by taking so long between his international bow and his first run.

Altogether, 65 players have seen at least a year go by between their international debut and the match in which they finally broke their duck:

      Name               InternationalDebut     FirstRun     Days
  1.  GM Carew                   08/01/1935   11/02/1948    4,782
  2.  WH Copson                  24/06/1939   16/08/1947    2,975
  3.  GP Swann                   23/01/2000   01/10/2007    2,808
  4.  CM Bandara                 27/05/1998   10/12/2005    2,754
  5.  TWJ Goddard                25/07/1930   24/07/1937    2,556
  6.  A Mishra                   13/04/2003   06/11/2008    2,034
  7.  WCA Ganegama               08/04/2001   26/01/2006    1,754
  8.  Saiful Islam               31/12/1990   05/04/1995    1,556
  9.  G Duckworth                26/07/1924   11/08/1928    1,477
 10.  GRA de Silva               14/06/1975   09/06/1979    1,456
 11.  Sarfraz Nawaz              06/03/1969   29/12/1972    1,394
 12.  Shabbir Ahmed              19/09/1999   18/05/2003    1,337
 13.  RA Gaunt                   24/01/1958   17/08/1961    1,301
 14.  GJ Hopkins                 29/06/2004   20/12/2007    1,269
 15.  RJ Bright                  30/03/1974   04/06/1977    1,162
 16.  PR Downton                 23/12/1977   13/02/1981    1,148
 17.  MG Webb                    05/03/1971   01/03/1974    1,092
 18.  DJG Sammy                  08/07/2004   07/06/2007    1,064
 19.  AS Luseno                  06/04/2003   01/03/2006    1,060
 20.  HT Davis                   18/04/1994   14/02/1997    1,033
 21.  JP Yadav                   06/11/2002   26/08/2005    1,024
 22.  NW Bracken                 11/01/2001   26/10/2003    1,018
 23.  Munir Malik                04/12/1959   05/07/1962      944
 24.  TG Shaw                    10/11/1991   08/04/1994      880
 25.  GB Troup                   16/10/1976   16/02/1979      853
 26.  A Nehra                    24/02/1999   07/06/2001      834
 27.  Arshad Khan                01/02/1993   11/04/1995      799
 28.  RD Jackman                 13/07/1974   28/08/1976      777
 29.  HAPW Jayawardene           28/06/2000   21/07/2002      753
 30.  GB Legge                   24/12/1927   10/01/1930      748
 31.  Tauseef Ahmed              27/02/1980   05/03/1982      737
 32.  BW Hilfenhaus              14/01/2007   16/01/2009      733
 33.  G Geary                    26/07/1924   10/07/1926      714
 34.  ML Patel                   14/09/2004   15/08/2006      700
 35.  PJ Ongondo                 30/09/1999   18/08/2001      688
 36.  CPH Ramanayake             08/03/1986   02/01/1988      665
 37.  G Noblet                   03/03/1950   22/12/1951      659
 38.  Shakeel Ahmed              01/05/1993   07/02/1995      647
 39.  PE McIntyre                26/01/1995   10/10/1996      623
=39.  GN de Silva                30/04/1983   12/01/1985      623
 41.  JM Patel                   26/02/1955   19/10/1956      601
 42.  W Mwayenga                 24/11/2002   29/05/2004      552
=42.  ML Nkala                   27/09/1998   01/04/2000      552
 44.  Abdur Rauf                 02/02/2008   04/07/2009      518
 45.  DB Close                   23/07/1949   22/12/1950      517
 46.  H Verity                   29/07/1931   02/12/1932      492
 47.  TB Mitchell                10/02/1933   08/06/1934      483
 48.  M Hayward                  18/08/1998   09/12/1999      478
 49.  CL White                   09/10/2005   14/01/2007      462
 50.  PK Lee                     18/12/1931   23/02/1933      433
 51.  AL Logie                   19/12/1981   23/02/1983      431
 52.  RS Ghai                    05/12/1984   26/01/1986      417
 53.  PS Vaidya                  22/02/1995   12/04/1996      415
 54.  KS More                    05/12/1984   18/01/1986      409
 55.  Alamgir Kabir              21/07/2002   27/08/2003      402
 56.  GI Allott                  13/01/1996   06/02/1997      390
 57.  Sarandeep Singh            25/11/2000   19/12/2001      389
 58.  SP Gupte                   30/12/1951   21/01/1953      388
 59.  WB Phillips                22/10/1982   11/11/1983      385
 60.  E Otieno                   18/10/2007   31/10/2008      379
 61.  MG Hughes                  13/12/1985   26/12/1986      378
 62.  DI Joyce                   13/06/2006   23/06/2007      375
 63.  VM Muddiah                 12/12/1959   16/12/1960      370
 64.  GP Wickramasinghe          31/12/1990   02/01/1992      367
 65.  AP Grayson                 10/10/2000   10/10/2001      365

By the way, the player who had most FC games under his belt without scoring had the misfortune never to record that elusive first run. John Howarth played 13 matches for Nottinghamshire in 1966 & 1967; in that time he registered 7 ducks (3 not-out) and 16 DNBs, but he never saw the scoreboard tick over next to his number. A similar fate was met by Somerset's Seymour Clark, who may have only played 5 FC games but, in that time, he managed 2 more innings than Howarth without ever scoring a run. It's probably not surprising that he got dropped after that.

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UPDATE: Doug Bollinger finally got off the mark in the second innings of Australia's third test v. West Indies at Perth. That was his fourth visit to the crease in his tenth international game, meaning he's ended up in equal-third place with Roger Harper and RL Sanghvi.