Getting out without scoring any runs is an an occupational hazard for a batter and there is no escaping the ignominy
![The Spin | England’s top order quacking and creaking into history of the duck](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/968fdebe458590ee794c082e53c1e2c2ce90e41e/0_180_5568_3341/master/5568.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=2663fc8aba500aa9a1773b733cf48132)
Cricket is both cosy and cruel. On the surface it can appear all polite applause (“clap the new batsman in, chaps”) and taking tea in flannel whites – but it has failure running through its bucolic green pastures like a diseased river. In almost every game from village green to Test arena there will come a moment when a player desires nothing more than for the ground to open up beneath them.
You might know the feeling. Maybe you’ve run out a teammate with some calamitous calling or bowled a series of extravagant wides. Lobbed a mortifying and potentially lethal beamer at a child’s head or overstepped to deliver a no ball at a crucial moment. It is often said that dropping a catch is the worst feeling to have on a
Cricket field, the ache of letting down your teammates married with the shame of spurning a hard-earned opportunity.