More batting feats on Test debut

In the past few posts we have looked at those who scored a century on debut and never scored another century. In some cases they did not even score a fifty. Here we look at some other points of interest:

Most runs on debut without a century (112 and more):

The first one is not so well known, and his 92 on debut remained his highest Test score in his 21 Tests: https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/bruce-laird-6250

The second, Clive Lloyd, scored many centuries and was one of the most successful batsmen and captains of the West Indies.

Fakhar Zaman is the most recent to do so (in 2018) but has played only 3 Tests with a highest score of 94.

There are many other famous names such as SM Gavaskar (highest score by an Indian player) and FM Worrell.

Not everyone here scored two fifties on debut. There are several with 95+ scores, the highest being 98 by AC Agar for Aus in 2013. This is the highest Test score by any No 11 batsman.

There are a mixture of well-known and not so well-known players here.

Similarly, we look at cases of

Most runs on debut without a 50-plus score

Led by Lee Germon (89) who became one the very few recent players to captain his team on debut. Ultimately he scored one fifty in his 12 Tests.

Most of the players here are lesser-known. In recent years S Muthusamy was unbeaten in both innings. (However, the record for two unbeaten innings on debut is 128* and 50* by Azhar Mahmood in 1997.

The best for India is 80 (45 and 35*) by Shubham Gill in 2020. Earlier the best for India was 74 (33 and 41) by Murali Vijay in 2008.

One more list we look at is

Most runs on debut with a century and a fifty:

The highest instance is 216 by Ranjitsinhji, who was also the first to score a century and 50+ on debut. The most recent is 170 by Shreyas Iyer in 2021. He is the only Indian player to achieve this.

RE Redmond would be known by anyone familiar with cricket trivia. After Ranji we have Umar Akmal (204), CG Greenidge (200) and PA Gibb (199). F du Plessis is another from recent times.

Review of India-West Indies Tests (2019)-1

After India won this away series 2-0, the series record was:

India won 22, West Indies won 30, 46 drawn in a total of 98 Tests.

In India: India won 13, WI 14, 20 drawn in a total of 47 Tests

In West Indies: India won 9, WI 16 and 26 drawn in a total of 51 Tests.

India got the full 120 points here. This is the WTC standing on September 3:

We can see that neither England nor Australia can catch up after their series concludes.

We now go on to individual records, starting with

Batting:

Most runs (750 or more):

Gavaskar has scored the most centuries (13) and the next is 8 by Richards and Sobers.

Gavaskar also has the most 50+ scores (20) followed by Lloyd with 19 and Dravid with 18.

Bravo and Kohli are the only current players here.

Highest innings (150 or more):

Both sides have not recorded a score above 150 since 2016 (200 by Kohli).

Best batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, 30.00):

Sobers is far above the others. Darren Bravo is the only current player here. He also became the second batsmen to warrant a concussion substitute in the second innings. Blackwood batted in this place, making this the first Test scorecard with 12 batsmen.

Best strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced, all instances):

As in many of the older series, full details of balls faced are not available for matches before the 2000s. But it seems clear that no one would have surpassed Sehwag. Kohli and Ashwin (!) have the highest among current players.

To be continued