Faf du Plessis's first duck in international cricket; record streak broken

Faf du Plessis’s record streak of having not been dismissed for a duck in a record 99 consecutive matches since making his debut came to an end when he was caught behind the wicket by Denesh Ramdin off the bowling of fast bowler Kemar Roach in the ongoing Test match between South Africa and West Indies at SuperSport Park, Centurion, South Africa.

Du Plessis, who made his international debut in a one-day match on January 18, 2011, against India, has so far represented the Proteas in 62 ODIs, 20 T20Is and 18 Tests, with this match against the Windies being his 18th Test; 100th international match; and 109th innings.

Faf du Plessis

Going into the lunch session on Day 1 of the first of the three-match Test series against West Indies, the home team are on 102/3 in 27 overs with captain Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers doing the repair work following Roach’s double strikes that triggered a mini-collapse of sorts to reduce them from 56-0 to 57-3.

Du Plessis maintains a good distance away from his compatriot AB de Villiers, who is at the second spot in the list of players who have played the most number of consecutive innings before getting dismissed for their first duck in international cricket. This is one of the craziest streaks in world cricket that is likely to stay there with Du Plessis for a very long time to come.

Player	Country	Most innings before first duck
Faf du Plessis	South Africa	108
AB de Villiers	South Africa	84
Geraint Jones	England	71
Brad Haddin	Australia	69
Denesh Ramdin	West Indies	63

Note: Stats updated till December 17, 2014