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.

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).

 

 

More records of the India-SA Test at Vizag

The fourth day was dominated by the second century by Rohit Sharma, where he achieved something which no other opener had done in Tests so far, by making twin centuries in the first Test where he had opened. That was something which CG Greenidge and AJ Strauss narrowly missed, and was not achieved by a galaxy of renowned openers from Hobbs and Sutcliffe to Gavaskar and Graeme Smith.

The final day appeared to be ready for a quick finish when 7 wickets fell rapidly before lunch. The batsmen finally put up some fight to take the score from 70/8 to 161/9 to 191-one of the relatively few innings where the score was doubled after the 8th wicket fell.

S Muthusamy (49*), the No 7 batsman and debutant put on 91 for the 9th wicket with DL Piedt (56, his first fifty). Finally Muthusamy put on 30 for the 10th wicket with K Rabada (18).

While India won by 203 runs, there were a number of statistical highlights by the South African batsmen:

Highest score by No 8-11 batsman against India in the 4th innings:

Piedt’s 56 is the highest such score in India. The only other tailend fifty in India was NJ Astle’s 51* in 2003. Also note Griffith’s 40* which helped WI force a draw in 1967.

Then we look more carefully at S Muthusamy’s 33* (at no 8) and 49* (at no 7). He also took Kohli’s wicket.

Highest totals without a dismissal on debut:

His 82 is in the middle of this table. AG Kripal Singh and RG Nadkarni are also here.

Highest totals with two not out innings on debut:

He is in 5th position here. Azhar Mahmood is the only one with an unbeaten century AND fifty on debut, and GC Grant the only other one with two unbeaten fifties on debut. Muthusamy’s 82 is the highest such total against India, ahead of CM Old’s 50 in 1972. AE Trott also took 8-43 on his debut

Highest totals on debut without a fifty:

Muthusamy is in 6th place here, though the topper LK Germon (89) and AJ Pycroft (85) scored more against India. The best by India is 74 by M Vijay followed by 73 by Akash Chopra.

Highest total in all Tests without a fifty:

This was, predictably, headed by someone with two 49s. No debutant reached 90 without a fifty, the record being 89 by Germon listed above.  G Kirsten of SA is second here.

Finally we look at the highest scores by No 10 against India:

Piedt is 4th on this list and the highest in the 4th innings. His 56 is higher than Verity’s 55* in the first innings.