ODI debuts for and against India

ODI debuts by Indian players were highlighted in the first match, both in batting and bowling.

ODI debuts by India (minimum 40 runs):

KL Rahul is the only player from India to score a century on ODI debut. Before that, RV Uthappa’s record of 86 stood for several years.

This table also gives the strike rate for the innings. Indeed, the highest rate is 187 by KH Pandya, far ahead of the previous record of 127 by Azharuddin back in 1984-85.

This list includes several who served India well, and others who vanished quickly. For instance, Khurasiya scored 57 on debut and played in only a few ODIs after that.

Now we look at those who scored 40 or more on their ODI debut which was against India:

The highest is 90 by SP Fleming, who also scored 90+ on his Test debut. Some other famous names here include Wade, du Plessis, RB Richardson and YJ Bairstow. Others such as CS Cowdrey and Moxon did not last long.

Now we look at ODI debuts by Indian players, with a minimum of 3 wickets in an innings:

We see that MP Krishna’s 4-54 is the best by an Indian player on ODI debut, surpassing the long-forgotten NA David’s 3-21 in 1997.

David’s 2.62 is also the best economy rate here, followed by ST Banerjee’s 3.00. The worst is 6.66 by C Sharma, just ahead of Krishna’s 6.61.

Prominent names here include Pandya junior, DR Doshi and even BS Chandrasekhar.

Finally, we look at those who took 3wi on their Test debut which was against India.

The best here is 5-28 by BD’s Taskin Ahmed, just ahead of AA Donald’s 5-29. Donald and maybe Henry and Styris are the only others who lasted long enough.

The best economy rates are 2.50 by FA Rose and 3.16 by SA Thomson. The worst is 6.30 by SB Styris.

Summing up the one-match players

This is to provide links to a few posts in the last few days, for those who are interested in the obscure byways of cricket history. These deal with the best performances of those who had only one match (or innings) in the three formats of international cricket:

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2016/05/03/making-the-most-of-limited-chances-batting/

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2016/05/05/making-the-most-of-limited-chances-bowling/

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/making-the-most-of-limited-chances-fielding/

https://abn397.wordpress.com/2016/05/11/making-the-most-of-limited-chances-allround-performances/

Making the most of limited chances-Allround performances

We conclude this series with a look at those who put in a good all-round performance in their only opportunity in international cricket. We will look at batting + bowling as well as batting + fielding in the three formats of the game.

We start with Tests:

30-plus runs and 3-plus wickets in their only Test:

Heading the list is MF Malone, one of the Packermen who was given a chance in the final Test of a series which Australia had already lost. It would clearly be the best all-round performance for someone who played only one Test. Next would come that of JP Faulkner. He is a key member of Australia’s current limited-overs teams and will probably play a few more Tests.

30-plus runs and 3-plus dismissals in their only Test:

Again, some relatively lesser-known players. Ronchi and Ojha can be expected to play again. L Ronchi’s performance, for the moment, is the best for any keeper who played in only one test. NV Ojha would be next.

Passailaigue is the only non-keeper here. He put on 487* for the 6th wicket with George Headley in 1931-32 which is still the world first-class record for this wicket.

Now for ODIs:

10 or more runs and 1 or more wicket in their only ODI:

After scraping the bottom of the barrel, we have these 8 ODI players. India’s leading spinner of the 70s is there along with a few other Test players such as AV Mankad, ADG Roberts and JR Hammond. Fittingly Chandrashekhar has the best bowling here, while AV Mankad has the highest score.

10 or more runs and 1 or more dismissal in their only ODI:

ADG Roberts appears in both of these lists. Other famous names are Bill Lawry and the now-familiar Phil Emery.

Finally we move to T20Is:

10 or more runs and 1 or more wicket in their only T20I:

Famous names include Tendulkar (in India’s first T20I), Rafique (Bangladesh’s first genuine all-rounder) and Gillespie. The list is headed by Scott Borthwick who also played one Test and two ODIs.

Gillespie scored the most runs (!) while Hitchcock is the only one to take 2 wickets.

10 or more runs and 1 or more dismissal in their only T20I:

12 in this list, and some of them like Tendulkar, Borthwick and Fayyaz appear again.

Dinesh Mongia, like Tendulkar, made his only T20I appearance in India’s first ODI. He has the highest score here,while no one has more than one dismissal. Nixon is the only one to make a stumping.

There are a number of Test players here including Read, Nafees, Tendulkar, Key, Reifer and Kieran Powell.

This concludes our series on those who did well in their only opportunity in international cricket.

 

Making the most of limited chances-fielding

A few days ago we had separate posts on good batting and bowling performances in their only Test/ODI/T20I and their only innings. Today we take up fielding performances for those players with the shortest possible careers.

First we take up Tests.

Best fielding (4 or more dismissals) for those playing in their only Test:

This list consists of wicket keepers with the exception of RR (Robin) Singh, the Trinidad-born Indian player. He took 5 catches in his only Test, but had a somewhat better run as a batting all-rounder in ODIs.

Many of them were designated reserve keepers on tours and got to play only when the main keeper was injured or otherwise unavailable. The list is headed by Phil Emery of Australia, who was Ian Healy’s deputy in the 1994-95 tour of Pakistan who took 6 catches in his only Test. Three other keepers and Robin Singh made 5 dismissals each. NV Ojha and L Ronchi have some chance of playing Tests again.

Note India’s V Rajindernath who had 4 stumpings but no catches. This is the record for stumpings by any Test debutant. Emery, Atiq-uz-Zaman and TRO Payne each took 5 catches.

Best fielding (2 or more dismissals) in their only Test innings:

Here we have Australian keeper GA Manou (deputy to BJ Haddin) heading the list with 3 dismissals (all catches). Two lesser-known fielders took two catches each.

Now for ODIs:

Best fielding (2 or more dismissals) in their only ODI:

Our old friend Phil Emery tops this list again, on that same tour of Pakistan.If you want to know more about him:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/5139.html

There is also India’s long-forgotten P. Krishnamurthy who played in all 5 Tests of India’s tour of West Indies in 1970-71, though this ODI was in a later tour of New Zealand.

This list includes 6 keepers and 4 non-keepers. The latter group includes Australia’s JK Moss who also played in exactly one Test.

Best fielding (2 or more dismissals) in their only ODI innings:

We get exactly the same table.

Now for T20Is:

Best fielding (2 or more dismissals) in their only T20I:

A total of 6 players (2 keepers and 4 non-keepers) have each taken 2 dismissals in their only T20Is. The only well-known player is TR Ambrose who played in several Tests for England. India’s P Negi will probably play more T20Is.

Best fielding (2 or more dismissals) in their only T20I innings:

We get exactly the same table.

 

 

Making the most of limited chances-batting

There are many unfortunates who got a chance to play exactly one Test (or ODI or T20I). Some of them did well enough to deserve more chances but somehow this never happened. We look at the batsmen who made the most of their chances in limited Test opportunities, and then in ODIs and T20Is.

Scoring at least one fifty in their only Test:

Of these, only Redmond scored a hundred and a fifty, and Ganteaume scored a hundred. SC Cook played his only Test so far in 2016 and should get off this list soon. Ronchi is the only one to score over 100 runs without a century, while three others scored over 90.

There are various reasons why they did not play again. Eyesight issues were the main reason for Rodney Redmond not playing again. His son Aaron Redmond played 8 Tests in recent years with a top score of 83.

Zulqarnain Haider stopped playing for Pakistan under peculiar circumstances. Cook and (perhaps) Ronchi should play again. India’s sole representative the Yuvraj of Patiala (also known as Yadavindra Singh) dropped out of cricket to concentrate on politics, though he might well have captained India in the 1936 tour of England where he would certainly done better than Vizzy. His son Amarinder Singh is still active in the politics of Punjab state.

Now we look at

Scoring at least 50 runs in their only Test:

This includes a few others who made 50 or more runs without a fifty. The highest total among these is JK Moss with 60. There is also Humayun Farhat, who did score 54 runs in his only Test but also became the only wicket keeper who did not make a single dismissal in his career. (There are some other keepers who did not make any dismissal on their debut).

Scoring at least fifty in their only Test innings:

Ganteaume and Stollmeyer lead here. Albie Morkel probably deserved to play a few more Tests, but is now unlikely to get another chance. And McGirr played his only  innings in his 2nd and last Test, as he did not get to bat on his debut. Law is the only one in these tables to remain unbeaten in his short Test career. His fellow Australian debutant RT Ponting went on to bigger things.

Now for ODI matches:

30 or more runs in their only ODI:

Barnett and Woodcock are the only ones to score fifties, though there are several others close behind. Some of them were moderately successful in Tests, such as AV Mankad.

30 or more runs in their only ODI innings:

We get exactly the same list as above.

Now for T20Is:

20 or more runs in only T20I:

India’s lesser-known S Badrinath has the highest score here. Dinesh Mongia’s only T20I was India’s first. Some prominent Test and ODI players such as Dravid, Ganga, Gillespie and North find a place here, along with the hapless Reifer who was once asked by journalists “Are you smoking something which sounds like your name?”. This was at that the time he captained a West Indies C Team which gave Bangladesh its first two Test victories away from home.

20 or more runs in only T20I innings:

We get exactly the same result.

To be continued with bowling, fielding and all-round performance in their only match or innings.