England equal unwanted record after horrible performance in Ashes

England went down by an innings and 14 runs against Australia in the third Ashes Test. The visitors were all out for just 68 runs in the second innings. This was the third straight loss for the team and also one of their worst batting displays in Test in 2021. England batters have been going through a mediocre run and have equalled an unwanted record. England now have 54 ducks in Tests in 2021, levelling their own record of 1998.

In the second innings of the Melbourne Test, Dawid Malan, Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson were dismissed for 0. England registered five ducks across both innings.

It has been an absolutely horrible year for England with the bat. They have been dismissed below 200 far too often. Worst, the top order batters have been at the forefront of this unwanted record, unlike in 1998, when the tail-end batters were responsible for registering 54 ducks. Opening batter Rory Burns leads the pack with six ducks followed by Ollie Robinson, who has five ducks to his name. Haseeb Hameed, Jonny Bairstow, Dan Lawrence, and James Anderson have recorded four ducks. Meanwhile, Sam Curran and Stuart Broad have not opened their accounts three times each.

England have been leading this rather unwanted record of registering ducks in a calendar year. Among the top teams, South Africa’s worst tally in a year has been 29. Pakistan and Zimbabwe have not gone past 30. West Indies registered 44 ducks in 2000 while India registered 39 ducks in 2018 and 37 in 2002.