When England nightwatchman James Anderson smashed West Indies seamer Lionel Baker for four late on the first day of the second test he extended one of the more surprising records in test cricket.

The fast bowler has now played 48 test innings without being dismissed for a duck, three more than his nearest rival Yasir Hameed of Pakistan.

However, before anyone gets too excited about the fact that a genuine tail-ender with a test average of 13.77 holds this record, it needs a bit of explanation.

A glance down the list Anderson heads does not reveal many illustrious names and merely proves that good players do regularly get out without troubling the scorers.

Other statistics are a bit more revealing.

South African AB De Villiers went 78 test innings before registering his first duck, three more than the great Sri Lankan Aravinda De Silva.

Former England captain David Gower heads the list of most consecutive innings without making nought on 119, ahead of two other fine batsmen of his generation, Richie Richardson of West Indies and Australian Allan Border.

At the other end of the batting spectrum, the four players with the most ducks in test cricket have taken more than 2,500 test wickets between them.

West Indies pace man Courtney Walsh tops the list with 43 blobs, closely followed by Australians Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne and test cricket’s highest wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka.

PHOTO: England’s James Anderson takes part in a training session at Kensington Oval before the fourth test cricket match against the West Indies at Bridgetown February 24, 2009. REUTERS/Philip Brown