Raw but ready for Test cricket

These are clearly good times to be a debutant from Pakistan. In the first 338 Tests that the team had played, only nine times had one of their batsmen begun their careers with a century. (One of them, Yasir Hameed, went ahead and scored hundreds in both innings.) In their last three Tests, though, this feat has been achieved twice. Against Sri Lanka in Colombo four months back, Fawad Alam, opening the innings for the first time in his first-class career, scored a sparkling 168 in the second innings. And on the third day of the ongoing Dunedin Test, Umar Akmal had experts gushing about his class and composure as he creamed 129 from just 160 deliveries - an incredible strike rate of 80.62. Both these knocks achieved feats that had never been accomplished before: Fawad's hundred was the first by a Pakistan debutant overseas, while Umar's was the first outside the subcontinent.

Pakistan's batsmen have done reasonably well on debut over the last 40 years, but the leader in this area - as in many others in international cricket for several years - is Australia. Since 1970 their top-order debutants average 35, which is higher than any other side - obviously the standard of their domestic cricket ensures that players are better prepared for international cricket than those from other countries. Nine of their top-order batsmen have started their Test careers with hundreds during this period, including Marcus North and Michael Clarke. (Ricky Ponting missed out narrowly, scoring 96.) South Africa are next, with Jacques Rudolph and Andrew Hudson getting hundreds on debut. Pakistan are the only other team whose debutants average more than 30, but what's astonishing about their stats is their conversion rate - they've scored ten centuries and only nine fifties. (Azhar Mahmood's century is excluded from the numbers below since he batted at No.8.)

The most disappointing numbers come from Sri Lanka, whose debutants average only 22.69 - even Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have done better. Brendon Kuruppu and Romesh Kaluwitharana are the only ones who've got hundreds, but the numbers are dragged down by several others, including Marvan Atapattu and Chamara Silva, who both got pairs.

Bangladesh is clearly the best team to play against when starting a career, but New Zealand isn't far behind: Umar Akmal became the ninth batsman to score a hundred on debut against them in these 40 years, which is more than against any other side. Lawrence Rowe got his two hundreds in his first Test against them, while New Zealand have also been particularly kind to Pakistan's debutants - Javed Miandad and Mohammad Wasim also cracked centuries against them in their maiden Test.

Batsmen have done reasonably well against India as well, with 28 fifty-plus scores coming against them - among the centurions are Aminul Islam, Michael Clarke and Dave Houghton.

Pakistan's debutants have scored 12 hundreds, but only two of them have come abroad, which begs the question: the debutants of which team have performed better than all the others overseas? The answer, it turns out, is the South Africans - their debutants average almost 35 overseas, with Jacques Rudolph (222 not against Bangladesh) and Andrew Hudson (163 against West Indies) both making their hundreds away from home. India improve to third place, with Surinder Amarnath, Praveen Amre, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag the four centurions. Pakistan, however, slip to fifth place, with only two hundreds in 48 innings. Sri Lanka's average, meanwhile, drops further, to a miserable 15.86, with Chandika Hathurusinghe, Athula Samarasekera and Chamara Dunusinghe the only ones to get fifties on debut.

On the bowling front, however, England's stats are the best among all teams, with South Africa and Australia following closely. Between them, England and Australia account for 26 five-fors on debut. John Lever's figures of 10 for 70 against India in Delhi was the best of the lot for England, while six other bowlers took eight in the match.

Australia's debutant hero, of course, was Bob Massie, who returned sensational figures of 16 for 137 against England at Lord's in 1972, figures which were later matched by India's Narendra Hirwani against West Indies in 1988. Jason Krejza was next with 12 wickets, while Terry Alderman and Stuart Clark both took nine. (Click here for more.)

Among the teams for whom bowling debuts have been more painful are Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Bangladesh. Among the Sri Lankans, only two - Kosala Kuruppuarachchi and Upul Chandana - have taken five-fors on debut, while Ajantha Mendis took four in each innings. Paul Wiseman, Mark Gillespie and Tim Southee achieved the feat for New Zealand, while for Bangladesh Mahmudullah, Manjural Islam and Naimur Rahman were the debut heroes.

Bangladesh remains the best country to debut against for bowlers as well - Andy Blignaut of Zimbabwe and Pakistan's Shabbir Ahmed helped themselves to five-wicket hauls against them. Zimbabwe are next, while West Indies, England, New Zealand and India are the teams against whom debutant bowlers have managed ten-wicket hauls. West Indies and England were at the receiving end against Hirwani and Massie, while Mohammad Zahid took 11 for 130 against New Zealand. India are the only side against whom two bowlers took ten-fors - Krejza and Lever.

On the other hand, Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are the toughest teams for bowlers to start their career against - versus each of these teams debutants average more than 42 runs per wicket.