🦆 The Duck Pond

A quiet week for the exclusive zero club, but a quiet week is not the same as an empty one, and the Duck Club is nothing if not attentive to detail. One duck's egg was laid at Bowaters CC, and it deserves its column inch. 1st XI Batting at number ten against Bowaters CC, L- Young was bowled by Roy Melhuish for a duck — his very first innings in senior colours, and thus a maiden knock in the truest and most unwelcome sense of the word. There is no shame in it. Every distinguished career on the honours board began somewhere, and Young's now begins here, at nought, in good and populous company — he takes up residence at 176th of 577 in the club's all-time list, with the whole of that table stretching invitingly above him. History, as it happens, keeps its own calendar: on this very day in 1893, one W W Tarrance likewise trudged back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers, also against The Mote CC — a coincidence separated by fifty-five years but united, as ever, by the art of not scoring. The Week in Summary One match, one duck, and a debut of the least celebrated kind. Young joins the roll of honour on his very first afternoon, which at Linton Park counts as a baptism of a particular sort — the eleven will no doubt remind him of it kindly, and often, for some seasons to come. Duck Hunting Season Leaderboard Four names stand level atop this season's reckoning, each having faced but one innings and returned but one duck — a clean sweep of misfortune all round: - Sessions — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - C Newman — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - L- Young — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - Richard Harris — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% A sticky wicket for all four, and the season yet young enough for any one of them to break clear — or, in the fine tradition of this club, to be joined by rather more company before the covers go on for winter. Until Next Time The eleven takes the field again before long, and the Duck Club's ledger, as always, stands open and ready. Whether the next entry is a golden duck, a pair, or merely one more honest failure with the bat, this correspondent will be watching the scorebook with the keenest interest cricket has to offer.

A quiet Sunday at Linton Park, and yet the eleven found room, as ever, for two additions to the club's most curious ledger. West Farleigh CC provided the opposition, and Kent hospitality, it must be said, extended rather too generously toward wickets taken. The 1st XI Mr Richard Harris, sent in at number six, played what one hopes was a straight enough bat before being taken by Harry Webb off the bowling of George Reffell. Not a first-ball departure, this — he troubled the crease a while before troubling nobody's figures — but a duck's egg all the same, his first of the season and the third of a career now numbering nine innings, which places him a respectable forty-fifth of the five hundred and seventy-six gentlemen who have ever walked back for nought at this ground. Curiously, this very date in 1925 saw a Mr W Turner similarly dismissed for a duck, against Bearsted CC of all sides — history, it seems, is fond of its small rhymes. Then came Mr C Newman, in at number ten, bowled by G Page without troubling the scorebook at all. A maiden appearance for the club, and what a maiden appearance — his very first innings yielding his very first duck, which is either the unluckiest or the most efficient way to begin a cricketing career, depending on one's temperament. He is welcomed forthwith into the club's roll of honour, sitting joint one hundred and eleventh of five hundred and seventy-six on debut alone. He keeps notable company on the calendar too: this same 25th of July, back in 1925, one W Turner also strolled back for nought against Bearsted CC, a full twenty-three summers before Mr Newman's own introduction to the art of not scoring. The Week in Brief One match, two ducks, both from the home eleven's middle and late order against West Farleigh — a modest bag by the club's standards, but every egg counts toward the season's basket, and a debutant duck is always worth a raised eyebrow in the pavilion. The Duck Hunting Season Leaderboard - Sessions — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - C Newman — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% - Richard Harris — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% A tightly-fought summit this season, with the field level at a perfect record of failure. Whether any of the three can be dislodged from their unwanted throne remains to be seen. Until the next fixture, when the bowlers of the district will no doubt continue their quiet work of populating this register further — the eleven takes the field again, and the Duck Club watches on, ever hopeful of new members.

A single entry finds its way into the book this week, but a rare and memorable one for all that — a maiden appearance settled in the most economical fashion imaginable. 1st XI Away from home comforts and into the record books went Sessions, sent in first wicket down against Herne Bay CC and undone by the bowling of Gv Gethin before he could trouble the scorebook. A plucky attempt at a straight bat, no doubt, but the wicket proved sticky enough to see him back to the pavilion without a run to his name. What makes the occasion noteworthy is that this was no seasoned campaigner's misfortune but his very first innings for the club — a debut duck, and there can be few less auspicious ways to begin a cricketing career, nor few more splendid ways to begin a duck-hunting one. He enters the exclusive zero club at the first time of asking, his maiden knock now his maiden nought, career figures reading one innings, one duck, and a seat at number 87 of 571 on the all-time roll of honour. Early in the season it may be, but for now Sessions stands quite alone atop the ledger for Duck of the Year 1948 — a lead he holds only by virtue of being first through the gate, and one the rest of the eleven will no doubt be keen to contest before the summer is out. A pleasant curiosity of the calendar attends the occasion: on this very day in 1943, Gordon Fenner — who between 1941 and 1947 assembled four such noughts of his own, good enough for 24th of 571 on the all-time list — likewise made his way back to the pavilion without scoring, against Maidstone Fire Service. Certain dates, it would seem, carry a duck-shaped destiny all their own. The Week in Summary One match, one duck — a quiet week by the Club's usual standards, but quality over quantity has always been the Duck Club's watchword, and a debutant's egg is worth more column space than a dozen ordinary noughts from the regulars. Duck Hunting Season Leaderboard 1. Sessions — 1 innings, 1 duck, 100% The book stands open and the ink is barely dry. Members are warmly reminded that the next fixture offers every opportunity for further additions to this most select of registers — may the bowling be hostile and the concentration lapse where it matters most.