Century on Test debut and no fifty ever again

Continuing on the theme of this post: https://abn397.wordpress.com/2022/11/16/century-on-test-debut-and-never-again-oct-2022/

Here we look at the cases of those who scored a century on Test debut but never made a fifty after that:

Note the special case of AG Ganteaume who scored a century in his only Test (in fact his only Test innings). Perhaps this list should also include RE Redmond who scored 107 and 56 in his only Test in 1973. However, his son AJ Redmond played 8 Tests with a top score of 83.

The longest spell of tolerance by the selectors was for van Zyl (12 Tests) and DR Smith (10).For India there was Pataudi Sr (3 Tests for India, all as captain) and Shodhan (also 3 Tests).

The highest scores here are by Kuruppu (201*) and Ibadulla (166) besides the first of these unfortunates C Bannerman (165*)

Century on Test debut and never again (Oct 2022)

Many players have score2 centuries on Test debut, starting with Charles Bannerman in the very first Test in 1877. But a significant number have never made a century again. This even includes one who made 2 centuries on debut (Yasser Hameed).

A total of 110 players have made 112 centuries on Test Debut. Lawrence Rowe accompanies Yasser Hameed in making 2 centuries on debut. But 39 of these (over 35% ) never scored another century. Here is the list:

You can also see that some did not even cross fifty after their debut. They will be tabulated next.

Footnote: Fawad Alam was stuck on this list for over 11 years from 2009 to 2020 before he scored his second century and a few more.

Performances in maiden Tests of teams (June 2018)

With Ireland  and Afghanistan now in the Test arena, we look at performances in the maiden Tests for all teams. Australia and England played their maiden Tests against each other on 15 Mar 1877.

Of the 12 teams, only Australia won and only Zimbabwe drew. The 10 remaining teams lost, including West Indies, Pakistan and Afghanistan by an innings. The maiden Tests of Australia, England and Ireland were relatively closely fought.

Ireland’s 5-wicket loss is the lowest losing margin by wickets by a team playing their debut Test. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh lost by 7 and 9 wickets respectively.

In contrast, Afghanistan’s loss by an innings and 262 runs is the worst losing margin by a debutant team.

By runs alone, England lost by 45 runs and India by 158.

In contrast, Afghanistan suffered the heaviest defeat here and the only one in a 2-day Test, being dismissed twice on the second day.

The best scores in maiden tests are 165* by C Bannerman, 145 by Aminul Islam, 121 by DL Houghton and now 118 by KJ O’Brien. Only South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan failed to record a fifty on debut. AB Tancred actually scored 29 in both innings. India, Pakistan and the West Indies just scraped through with fifties.

In all cases the bowler with the best innings bowling and best match bowling are the same. The best innings bowling here is 7-55 by Kendall in the very first Test, like his compatriot Bannerman. The next best is 6-132 by Naimur Rehman. There are a few other 5-fors.

The best match bowling is also from the very first Test, 8-89 by England’s A Shaw. Kendall with 8-109 is second.

Also note the all-round performance of New Zealand’s RC Blunt who has the highest score, best innings bowling and best match bowling  in his team’s maiden Test.

Some of these Tests involved players who had already represented other countries. These are Amir Elahi (India) and AJ Traicos (South Africa) who were therefore not making their Test debuts.

In the recent maiden Test of Ireland, B Rankin was the only one from his team who had played in Tests earlier, having played once for England. Everyone mentioned in the above table other than Elahi, Traicos and Rankin were making their Test debut.

Tail piece: The best batting and bowling figures by Afghanistan were by relatively lesser known players.