In cricket, one of the most extreme instances of a team being stalled at 0/0 was a deliberate tactical declaration, rather than a slow start. In the 2000 Test match between South Africa and England at Centurion, South African captain Hansie Cronje, after four days of play were lost to rain, orchestrated a contrived result by agreeing with England's captain, Nasser Hussain, to forfeit both teams' first innings. England declared its first innings at 0/0 without facing a single ball, and South Africa followed suit by declaring their second innings, setting up a chase for the final day.
While team-wide scoreless periods are rare, individual batsmen have also endured lengthy scoreless spells. Notable examples include Stuart Broad (England), who faced 62 balls and batted for 103 minutes before scoring a run against New Zealand in 2013, and Geoff Allott (New Zealand), who survived 77 balls over 101 minutes before scoring against South Africa in 1999. These instances show how individual defensive play can significantly slow a team's progress.
In terms of team scorelessness, one of the longest stretches occurred in the 2016 Test between Sri Lanka and Australia, where Australia’s batsmen Steve O'Keefe, Peter Nevill, and Josh Hazelwood collectively faced 154 balls (25.4 overs) without scoring. This scoreless period was a strategy to save the match. In limited-overs cricket, Sunil Gavaskar’s infamous 1975 World Cup innings, where he batted for 60 overs to score just 36 not out from 174 balls, remains one of the slowest ODI innings ever, reflecting a refusal to accelerate the scoring rate.