Test Debut Centurions to date (Full article - Aug 93)

Test Debut Centurions (as of Aug, 1993)

On July 6, the final day of the Trent Bridge Test, Surrey's 24-year-old left-handed batsman , Graham Paul Thorpe, scored a splendid match-saving century on his Test debut (114 not out in 335 minutes off 280 balls with 11 fours). Coming to the wicket at a precarious 159 for 5 with England only 107 ahead and over five sessions spanning more than 600 minutes of play left, he added 150 with Graham Gooch (who scored a courageous knock of 120) and also starred in an unfinished stand of 113 with Madras-born Nasser Hussain (47 not out) to steer England out of danger, and break the sequence of seven defeats in seven consecutive Tests from the Oval (Pakistan) in August 1992 to Lord's in June 1993. One more defeat at Trent Bridge, and England would have equalled their own world record of eight consecutive Test defeats, jointly held by South Africa (Port Elizabeth 1888-1889 to Cape Town 1898-99) and England (Sydney 1920-21 to Headingley 1921).

Thorpe is the 59th player in Test annals and the 14th batsman representing England to score a Test debut century. In fact, he is the first Englishman to do so since Frank Hayes performed the feat 20 years ago. More pertinently, the last time any batsman hit a debut ton for England in an Ashes Test was way back during the Bodyline series almost 60 years ago when Nawab Iftikhaar Ali of Pataudi did it.

The accompanying table shown below pinpoints the performance of the 59 Test debutant centurions, arranged in countrywise groupings. The numerals preceding the player's name indicate the chronological sequence of each succeeding debut century.

It will be observed that only one player (Lawrence Rowe) achieved the distinction of scoring centuries in both innings of his debut Test. Paul Gibb and Gordon Greenidge came very near to equalling this feat with a century and a ninety in their first test. Thirty-eight batsmen did it in the first innings and 20 in the second. Only three players (Foster 287, Rowe 214, Kuruppu 201*) scored a double hundred on debut. Lala and Surinder Amarnath furnish the only instance of a father and son combination.

Finally, it maybe be noted that Thorpe's performance is the first-ever instance of a Test debut hundred as Trent Bridge. It has taken place most often at Sydney (5 times), followed by Adelaide (4 times). A Test debut century has been recorded thrice apiece at Auckland, Bridgetown, Calcutta, Melbourne, Port-of-Spain, and the Oval.

Australia (15 players)

1 Charles Bannerman 165* 4 vEng Melbourne 1876-77 3 Henry Graham 107 - Eng Lord's 1893 6 R. A. Duff 32 104 Eng Melbourne 1901-02 9 R. J. Hartigan 48 116 Eng Adelaide 1907-08 10 Herbie Collins 70 104 Eng Sydney 1920-21 11 Bill Ponsford 110 27 Eng Sydney 1924-25 12 Archie Jackson 164 36 Eng Adelaide 1928-29 21 Jim Burke 12 101* Eng Adelaide 1950-51 33 Doug Walters 155 - Eng Brisbane 1965-66 36 Greg Chappell 108 - Eng Perth 1970-71 43 Gary Cosier 109 - WI Melbourne 1975-76 47 Dirk Wellham 24 103 Eng The Oval 1981 49 Kepler Wessels 162 46 Eng Brisbane 1982-83 50 Wayne Phillips 159 - Pak Perth 1983-84 54 Mark Waugh 138 23 Eng Adelaide 1990-91

England (14 Players)

2 W. G. Grace 152 9* vAus The Oval 1880 4 K. S. Ranjitsinhji 62 154* Aus Old Traff. 1896 5 'Plum' Warner 21 132* RSA Johannes. 1898-99 7 R. E. Foster 287 19 Aus Sydney 1903-04 8 George Gunn 119 74 Aus Sydney 1907-08 15 Nawab of Pataudi,Sr 102 - Aus Sydney 1932-33 16 Bryan Valentine 136 - Ind Bombay 1933-34 18 Paul Gibb 93 106 RSA Johannes. 1938-39 19 S. C. Griffith 140 4 WI P-o-Spain 1947-48 22 Peter May 138 - RSA Headingley 1951 28 Arthur Milton 104* - NZ Headingley 1958 34 John Hampshire 107 - WI Lord's 1969 40 Frank Hayes 16 106* WI The Oval 1973 59 Graham Thorpe 6 114* Aus Trent Br. 1993

New Zealand (4 Players)

13 J. E. Mills 117 7 vEng Wellington 1929-30 32 Bruce Taylor 105 0* Ind Calcutta 1964-65 39 Rodney Redmond 107 56 Pak Auckland 1972-73 53 Mark Greatbatch 11 107* Eng Auckland 1987-88 West Indies (10 Players) 14 George Headley 21 176 vEng Bridgetown 1929-30 20 A. C. Ganteume 112 - Eng P-o-Spain 1947-48 24 B. H. Pairaudeau 115 - Ind P-o-Spain 1952-53 25 'Collie' Smith 44 104 Aus Kingston 1954-55 27 Conrad Hunte 142 11* Pak Bridgetown 1957-58 37 Lawrene Rowe 214 100* NZ Kingston 1971-72 38 Alvin Kallicharran 100* - NZ Georgetown 1971-72 41 Gordon Greenidge 93 107 Ind Bangalore 1974-75 42 Leonard Baichan 20 105* Pak Lahore 1974-75 46 A. B. Williams 10 100 Aus Georgetown 1977-78

India (9 Players)

17 Lala Amarnath 38 118 vEng Bombay 1933-34 23 Deepak Shodhan 110 - Pak Calcutta 1952-53 26 A. G. Kripal Singh 100* - NZ Hyderabad 1955-56 29 Abbas Ali Baig 26 112 Eng Old Traff. 1959 30 Hanumant Singh 105 23 Eng Delhi 1963-64 35 Gundappa Vishwanath 0 137 Aus Kanpur 1969-70 44 Surinder Amarnath 124 - NZ Auckland 1975-76 51 Mohammed Azharuddin 110 - Eng Calcutta 1984-85 58 Praveen Amre 103 - RSA Durban 1992-93

Pakistan (3 Players)

31 Khalid Ibadulla 166 3 vAus Karachi 1964-65 45 Javed Miandad 163 25* NZ Lahore 1976-77 48 Saleem Malik 12 100* SL Karachi 1981-82

Sri Lanka (2 Players)

52 Brendon Kuruppu 201* - vNZ Colombo 1986-87 56 R. Kaluwitharana 132* 4 Aus Colombo 1992-93

South Africa (1 Player)

55 Andrew Hudson 163 0 vWI Bridgetown 1986-87

Zimbabwe (1 Player)

57 David Houghton 121 41* vInd Harare 1992-93

Source: BBM's Factfile