That winning feeling

Six Australians - Phil Jaques, Chris Rogers, Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark - experienced a Test defeat for the first time when Australia lost to India in Perth . For Rogers, it was on debut whereas, for Clark, the defeat ended a 13-Test winning streak since his first match in Cape Town in 2006. This week we look at players with the longest winning streaks at the start of their careers, and those who've endured the longest winless periods before a maiden victory.

The Perth defeat ended Australia's run of 16 consecutive Test wins and also ruined Clark's chances of over-taking Adam Gilchrist's record of most victories at the start of a career. Gilchrist made his debut when Steve Waugh's record-winning streak was one match old and Australia won the next 15 Tests before losing to India in Kolkata in 2001. Brett Lee also made his debut during that period - against India in Melbourne - and won his first ten Tests . He didn't tour India in 2001 so Lee's run of wins ended at Headingley in 2001.

In an era of Australian dominance, it is surprising that Shaun Tait, who has quit cricket indefinitely, has played three Tests and never been on a winning side. He made his debut during Australia's defeat at Trent Bridge in 2005 and then played in the draw at The Oval. Tait's last Test was the defeat against India in Perth.

Most matches at the start of a career all won - Tests

Player	Span	Mat	Won	Tied	Draw	Lost
AC Gilchrist (Aus)	1999-2001	15	15	0	0	0
SR Clark (Aus)	2006-2008	13	13	0	0	0
EAE Baptiste (WI)	1983-1990	10*	10	0	0	0
B Lee (Aus)	1999-2001	10	10	0	0	0
TT Samaraweera (SL)	2001-2002	10	10	0	0	0
JM Gregory (Aus)	1920-1921	8	8	0	0	0
JM Taylor (Aus)	1920-1921	8	8	0	0	0
AJ Strauss (Eng)	2004-2004	8	8	0	0	0
AA Mailey (Aus)	1920-1921	7	7	0	0	0
CE Pellew (Aus)	1920-1921	7	7	0	0	0
RN Harvey (Aus)	1948-1950	7	7	0	0	0
KF Barrington (Eng)	1955-1959	7	7	0	0	0
GA Lohmann (Eng)	1886-1888	6	6	0	0	0
TW Hayward (Eng)	1896-1897	6	6	0	0	0
HL Collins (Aus)	1920-1921	6	6	0	0	0
EA McDonald (Aus)	1921-1921	6	6	0	0	0
DR Jardine (Eng)	1928-1929	6	6	0	0	0
DJ Terbrugge (SA)	1998-2002	6	6	0	0	0
PA Jaques (Aus)	2005-2008	6	6	0	0	0
Lord Hawke (Eng)	1896-1899	5*	5	0	0	0

A surprising name in the table above is Sri Lanka's Thilan Samaraweera. Sri Lanka won Samaraweera's first ten Tests - against India, Bangladesh, West Indies, Pakistan and Zimbabwe - before they drew the first Test of their 2003 tour of West Indies in St Lucia.

The only challenger to Malcolm Marshall's record of playing 35 Tests before being involved in a defeat was Hussey. Australia won 19 out of Hussey's first 20 Tests - the one draw was against South Africa in Perth - before they were defeated by India. Marshall didn't have a win percentage as high as Hussey's but he went nearly seven years without losing a Test after his debut in 1978. During that period West Indies drew 18 and won 17 of the Tests which Marshall was involved in. His first defeat was against Australia in Sydney in 1985.

West Indies' victory over South Africa in Port Elizabeth in December 2007 was Dwayne Bravo's first Test win after 22 matches . The record is held by New Zealand's Bert Sutcliffe, whose entire career of 42 matches went without a win. Habibul Bashar and Khaled Mashud were closing in on Sutcliffe before Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe in Chittagong in 2005 to record their maiden Test victory.

Bashar and his team-mates dominate the table of players who had to wait the longest before winning an ODI. Bashar had 41 losses out of his first 42 games with one washout against West Indies in 2002. He did not play in Bangladesh's famous victory against Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup.

However, Bangladesh allrounder Mehrab Hossain jnr's career got off to a successful start. He made his debut against Zimbabwe during the 2006 Champions Trophy, a match which Bangladesh won. The team then won the next eight ODIs that Hossain played in - six against Zimbabwe and two against Scotland.