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*)

The fastest micro-innings batting

As we have seen here https://abn397.wordpress.com/2019/10/20/umesh-yadavs-batting-record/

The fastest score of 25+ was 31/10 balls, with a strike rate of 310.00

For 50+, it is 54/25 balls and 216.00

For 100+, it is 110*/58 balls and 189.65

Now let use see about the highest strike rates for innings lasting for one to six balls.

There is no record of anyone scoring more than a zero off zero balls, though it may be theoretically possible under some obscure rule.

Here you have only 0* and 0, the latter being diamond ducks.

Now for 1-ball innings:

There is only one such innings involving a six, and it is fittingly by Jayasuriya with an SR of 600. Next is Ishant Sharma with 5 (a single plus 4 overthrows) and 500. Then there are those who scored a 4 or 3 off one ball. Ishant Sharma appears again. At least half of the batsmen here are tailenders. Even the famous batsman CS Martin has scored 4 off one ball! So has NM Lyon.

2-ball innings:

There are four batsmen (all tailenders) who have made 7 off two balls. They would have made a 6 and a single, apart from Muralitharan who made a 4 and a 3. Then there are 6s and 5s. Here we do not meet a recognized batsman until Sir Richard Hadlee (?) and AL Logie. The only current players are Wafadar of Afghanistan and India’s Mohammed Shami.

3-ball innings:

The highest off 3 balls is 12* by Misbah, including two sixes and a dot. Murali has 6,4 and dot while Shami has two fours and a two. Others have made 6 runs with one four. Muralitharan appears three times here. The proportion of recognized batsmen is more here, including current players Mushfiqur and Malan along with Shami.

4-ball innings:

The maximum here is 12, either by 3 fours (de Villiers and Warner) or 2 sixes (Henry). Warner, Henry and M Marsh represent the current players.

5-ball innings:

The best here is by Southee (another expert tailend slogger) with 3 sixes in his 20. He has also made 13 to be in second place with Pietersen.

6-ball innings:

The highest here is 17* which is less than the 20 in 5 balls. Ntini made his 16* with 4 fours. KMA Paul’s 12 included 3 fours.

Having come so far, we can also see

Most successive sixes:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/284014.html

Kapil’s 4 successive sixes came when averting the follow-on with No 11 at the other end. The No 11 (Hirwani) was out just after the follow-on was averted. There are numerous current players here (such as Southee) besides old-timers such as Hammond.

And finally,

Most successive fours:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/284011.html

All 6 balls by Jayasuriya, Sarwan and Gayle (although Sarwan had a no-ball interspersed after 4 sixes. DW Hookes hit 5 fours on his debut, which came in the Centenary Test of 1977. So did RE Redmond, a staple of quiz questions.

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).

 

 

KL Rahul’s short-lived record

For a short time between the second and third Tests in the current series, KL Rahul shared an obscure Test record with Ravi Bopara-they were the only batsmen to make 3 Test centuries with no fifty (i.e. no score between 50 and 99). As Rahul got out on 50, the record now goes back to Bopara. More details in my earlier post: https://wordpress.com/post/abn397.wordpress.com/2052

As we see, there are numerous players who scored one century and no fifty (including Agarkar and Ratra from India in recent years). A small number made two centuries and no fifties.

No one has scored 4 or more centuries with no fifties. The least number of fifties for the 4-century men is 3, shared by several including Shikhar  Dhawan, Kambli and  current players Dean Elgar and Usman Khawaja:

There is another statistical quirk which shows up whenever someone makes 163 or more runs on his debut (including both innings). The long-term record for the most runs in an one-Test career belongs to RE Redmond who made 107 + 56 = 163 in early 1973. Since then, over 20 players had scored over 163 runs on their debut and this held the record for the most runs in an one-test career (but only until they played their second Test). Another Kiwi JD Neesham was the last to hold this record, making 33 and 137* (170) on his debut against India in early 2014. But he soon played more Tests. Before that there was Rohit Sharma with 177 and Shikhar Dhawan with 187. Here is a list of the temporary record-holders who equalled or bettered Redmond’s record since 1973:

A few of these players, notably those from Pakistan, vanished from the scene almost as quickly as the hapless Rodney Redmond did. At least he had the satisfaction of seeing his son Aaron play 8 Tests, with two fifties and a top score of 81.

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.