Whitewash (sport)
In sport, a whitewash is a game or series in which the losing person or team fails to score. A whitewash may be in a single game where the loser fails to score any points or goals, or in a series where the loser fails to win a game. In North America the two are differentiated, with the former called a shutout and the latter a sweep.
It is not typically used for games such as football where a failure to score is very common; the winning team's goalkeeper is said to keep a clean sheet if they do not concede a goal.
Usage by sport
Cricket
In cricket, a whitewash is when a team wins all the matches played in a series of at least 3 matches.
Examples include;
- Australia's 5–0 defeat of England to win the 1920-21 Ashes series.
- West Indies' consecutive 5–0 defeats of England in 1984 and 1985-86. These two Wisden Trophy results are also commonly labelled blackwashes because of the dark skin of the West Indies players.[1]
- Australia's 5–0 defeat of the West Indies in 2000–01 to win the Frank Worrell Trophy
- Australia's 5–0 defeat of England to win the 2006–07 Ashes series.
- England's 4–0 defeat of India to win the Pataudi Trophy during India's tour of England in 2011.
- Australia's 4–0 defeat of India to win the 2011–12 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
- India's 4–0 defeat of Australia to win the 2012–13 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
- Australia's 5–0 defeat of England to win the 2013–14 Ashes series.
Rugby union
The term whitewash is also used in rugby union when one team loses every match in a particular series. The team that comes last in the Six Nations Championship has the ignominy of being awarded the wooden spoon, even if they have not suffered a complete whitewash.
Tennis
In ATP and WTA tennis, the term whitewash is used when a player fails to win a game in a match (6–0, 6–0, 6–0; or 6–0, 6–0), also called a triple- or double-bagel respectively. Double bagels are more common.
See also
References
- ↑ "Blackwash". I love Jamaica. BBC. Retrieved 19 February 2014.