Ten wickets on Test debut and never again

(Updated on 15 May 2021):

Some achievements on debut are more difficult than others.

As may as 110 centuries have been scored on debut, as well as 169 five-fors. In a few cases the player has scored two centuries or took two fivers in his debut Test.

But only 16 have taken ten wickets in their first Test:

The last entrant is Praveen Jayawickrama of Sri Lanka, who has played only one Test so far.

But the members of this exclusive club have not been fortunate. A quick overview:

We can see that:

Marriott played only one Test. Newcomer Jayawickrama has also played only one so far.

However, a total of 12 of these 16 never took a ten-for after their debut. The only ones who did so were T Richardson (total 4 times), Grimmett (7), Bedser (5) and Valentine (4)

And 7 of the 16 never even took a five-for after their debut.

Perhaps Jayawickrama will be able to overcome these odds.

Also, JK Lever is the only one to take a ten-for along with a fifty on debut. He never made another fifty, although he did add two five-fors to his 7-49 on debut.

While Ken Farnes did add one five-for to the two he took on debut, he died young in a flying accident during WW2.

Incidentally, Jayawickrama’s 11-178 is the best by a left-arm spinner on debut, surpassing the 11-204 by AL Valentine in 1950.

Muthusamy’s record, and the highest averages

At close on the Oct 10, 2019, which was the first day of the second India-SA Test at Pune, South Africa was yet to bat.

So Senuran Muthusamy temporarily holds the record of the most runs in a Test career without ever being dismissed:

He is now ahead of the long-standing record of Afaq Hussain who made 66 (HS 35*) in 4 unbeaten innings in 2 Tests in 1961-64.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/38975.html

Azhar Mahmood scored 128* and 50* on debut and thus scored 178 without being dismissed. He added another 19 in his third innings before he was dismissed for the first time.

JA Rudolph scored 222* on debut, and 71 in his next innings in his second Test.

The above table shows those with short careers who finished with no dismissal. SG Law scored 54* in his only innings, while his fellow debutant Ricky Ponting (96) went on to better things.

There are a few there who played in 3 Tests. However, the real achievement was that of Aijaz Cheema:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/39821.html

In 7 Tests in 2011-12, he batted in 5 unbeaten innings for a total of 1 run.

We now move on to the related topic of the highest batting averages. Most statistics sources such as Cricinfo give this with a cutoff of 20 innings, as in this:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/282910.html

Which is headed by Bradman (99.94). followed by SPD Smith (64.56) and AC Voges (61.87). The only others with averages over 60 are Graeme Pollock, George Headley and Herbert Sutcliffe.

But what if we do not have  a minimum number of innings? After Muthusamy and his unbeaten friends, we get:

(On Oct 10, 2019):

Highest batting averages (with no minimum number of innings):

This is headed by current players KR Patterson and PP Shaw who are expected to play Tests in the future. Next is AG Ganteaume with his average permanently stuck at 112.00. Only then we have Bradman’s 99.94, followed by a couple of 1-Test players in the 90s.  Further down we have SPD Smith (64.56) and AC Voges (61.87).

Soon we can expect Ganteaume to be back on top. And RE Redmond who is stuck on 81.50, followed by other 1-Test players such as JK Moss (60.00) and JA Morkel (58.00).