What is the term for a score of zero in cricket?

The term for a score of zero in cricket is a duck. The word applies when a batter is dismissed without scoring any runs, whether the dismissal is by bowled, caught, leg before wicket, stumped, run out, or another valid method.

The expression is widely believed to come from the phrase “duck’s egg,” a description of the zero-shaped mark once used in scorecards. One famous early association is the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, being dismissed for nought in 1866; newspapers reportedly compared the score to a duck’s egg. The exact path from “duck’s egg” to “duck” is less certain, but the term became standard cricket vocabulary.

A batter dismissed with the first ball faced is said to have made a golden duck. A diamond duck can refer to being dismissed without facing a ball, while a pair means scoring zero in both innings of a Test or first-class match. A duck is therefore not simply any scoreless innings: the batter must be dismissed.