Strong first impressions, and some weak ones

Some batsmen have had extraordinary success when playing a team for the first time - Sunil Gavaskar, Marcus North and Kumar Sangakkara to name three. Perhaps they were unknown quantities, perhaps they had lots of beginner's luck, or perhaps they were just high-class players. Others have fared poorly under similar circumstances. Sachin Tendulkar, for instance, was a prodigiously talented teenager but a slow starter in his career. This week's List looks at how batsmen fared in terms of average in first outings against different teams.

We've only considered batsmen who played against at least five teams, which is why Don Bradman isn't in our tables. In his first Tests against the four teams he played against, Bradman made 434 runs at an average of 86.80, though he fared poorly against England and West Indies, he filled his boots against South Africa and India. India's little-known Hemu Adhikari, however, averaged 141.50 in his first Tests against four teams. He made 283 and was not out in four out of six innings.

Sangakkara had a terrific start against most teams in Test cricket, amassing 848 runs in 11 innings at an average of 94.22. He made 23 against South Africa, 58 against England, 105 not out against India, 54 against Bangladesh, 140 against West Indies, 128 against Zimbabwe, 230 and 14 not out against Pakistan, 67 against New Zealand and 22 and 7 against Australia, whom he played for the first time in 2004, despite debuting in 2000.

Best batting average on debut against each team - Tests (qualification: 5 matches, excluding multi-country teams)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	HS	100	50		Career	Mat	Ave
AI Kallicharran (WI)	1972-1975	5	9	606	101.00	124	2	4		1972-1981	66	44.43
KC Sangakkara (SL)	2000-2004	9	11	848	94.22	230	4	3		2000-2011	95	56.63
G Boycott (Eng)	1964-1967	6	9	535	89.16	246*	1	2		1964-1982	108	47.72
DI Gower (Eng)	1978-1982	6	10	624	89.14	200*	2	2		1978-1992	117	44.25
SM Gavaskar (India)	1971-1982	6	12	712	89.00	155	3	4		1971-1987	125	51.12
GS Chappell (Aus)	1970-1983	6	7	522	87.00	204	2	2		1970-1984	87	53.86
JH Edrich (Eng)	1963-1969	6	9	598	85.42	310*	2	1		1963-1976	77	43.54
MJ Greatbatch (NZ)	1988-1992	6	12	655	81.87	146*	2	4		1988-1996	41	30.62
GC Smith (SA)	2002-2005	9	15	1146	81.85	277	4	3		2002-2011	91	49.71
NC O'Neill (Aus)	1958-1963	5	9	480	80.00	181	1	2		1958-1965	42	45.55
MA Taylor (Aus)	1989-1993	7	12	858	78.00	170	4	3		1989-1999	104	43.49
Zaheer Abbas (Pak)	1969-1982	6	10	777	77.70	274	3	1		1969-1985	78	44.79
MJ North (Aus)	2009-2010	6	8	456	76.00	125*	3	1		2009-2010	21	35.48
KF Barrington (Eng)	1955-1963	6	8	524	74.85	139	3	1		1955-1968	82	58.67
BL D'Oliveira (Eng)	1966-1969	5	9	445	74.16	109	1	3		1966-1972	44	40.06

Sangakkara and Gavaskar, who averaged 89 in first Tests against six opponents, went on to build tremendously on those bright starts. North is an example of someone who didn't. He scored 456 runs at an average of 76 in eight innings, with hundreds against South Africa, England and New Zealand, and a half-century against West Indies. Unfortunately for him, his bad days outnumbered his good ones and his form against most countries deteriorated. He presently averages 35 and has not had his central contract renewed by Cricket Australia.

Tendulkar scored only one half-century in 13 innings in his first matches against each of the nine other Test countries. He made 258 runs at an average of 19.84, so some of the opponents might have wondered what the fuss was about. They were to find out soon enough, though.

Tendulkar followed the 15 in his first Test against Pakistan in 1989 with 59 in the second, his 0 and 24 against New Zealand with 88, and his 10 and 27 at Lord's with 68 and 119 not out at Old Trafford in 1990. In his first game against Australia, Tendulkar made 16 and 7 at the Gabba in 1991-92, but a match later he was celebrating a century at the SCG. He made a duck in Harare in 1992, but scored 62 the next time he played Zimbabwe, in Delhi the following year. He began against South Africa with 11 in Durban but bounced back to score 111 at the Wanderers. He followed his 11 against Sri Lanka in Chandigarh 1990 with 104 not out at the SSC in 1993, and his 34 and 85 against West Indies in 1994, with 179. Only against Bangladesh, in 2000, was he already an established great, and he made 18. Four years later he scored his highest Test score - 248 - in Dhaka.

Worst batting average on debut against each team - Tests (qualification: 5 matches, career average of 35, excluding multi-country teams)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	HS	100	50		Career	Mat	Ave
Aamer Malik (Pak)	1987-1989	5	7	79	15.80	32	0	0		1987-1994	14	35.31
PJP Burge (Aus)	1955-1959	5	7	98	16.33	35	0	0		1955-1966	42	38.16
RM Cowper (Aus)	1964-1966	5	8	148	18.50	81	0	1		1964-1968	27	46.84
A Symonds (Aus)	2004-2008	6	11	216	19.63	44	0	0		2004-2008	26	40.61
SR Tendulkar (India)	1989-2000	9	13	258	19.84	85	0	1		1989-2011	177	56.94
WJ Edrich (Eng)	1938-1954	6	7	143	20.42	71	0	1		1938-1955	39	40.00
Majid Khan (Pak)	1964-1982	6	9	184	20.44	63	0	1		1964-1983	63	38.92
Mushtaq Mohammad (Pak)	1959-1972	5	10	210	21.00	76	0	1		1959-1979	57	39.17
MW Gatting (Eng)	1978-1993	6	9	168	21.00	51*	0	1		1978-1995	79	35.55
BP Nash (WI)	2008-2011	6	9	189	21.00	64	0	2		2008-2011	20	35.25
JG Wright (NZ)	1978-1983	6	11	237	21.54	55	0	1		1978-1993	82	37.82
Imran Khan (Pak)	1971-1982	6	8	179	22.37	48	0	0		1971-1992	88	37.69
JV Coney (NZ)	1974-1983	6	11	250	22.72	84	0	1		1974-1987	52	37.57
RJ Shastri (India)	1981-1992	8	12	207	23.00	42	0	0		1981-1992	80	35.79
MD Crowe (NZ)	1982-1994	8	14	324	23.14	83	0	2		1982-1995	77	45.36

An average of 47 in one-day cricket would be a rather sought-after statistic in modern cricket. Glenn Turner had it at the end of a ten-year career that ended in 1983, after scoring 1598 runs in 40 innings. He had an average of 111.25 from all his first games against teams, though he began poorly against Pakistan, Australia and England. He had success against India - one century, two fifties, three unbeaten innings and an average of 272 in four matches.

Allan Border had a poor start against every team in his one-day career - 80 runs in eight innings, with a high score of 25 (in his only game against Canada). Only West Indies' Runako Morton has fared worse - an average of 5.25 in eight innings. Border, however, went on to forge a 273-ODI career alongside a glittering Test record. Had Morton been in a previous West Indian era, he might never have had the opportunity to make an international debut.

Worst batting average on debut against each team - ODIs (qualification: 7 innings, career average of 30, excluding multi-country teams)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	Runs	Ave	HS	100	50		Career	Mat	Ave
RS Morton (WI)	2002-2008	11	8	42	5.25	17	0	0		2002-2010	56	33.75
AR Border (Aus)	1979-1992	10	8	80	10.00	25	0	0		1979-1994	273	30.62
ADR Campbell (Zim)	1992-1997	10	8	81	10.12	29	0	0		1992-2003	188	30.50
VVS Laxman (India)	1998-2004	11	11	139	13.90	25	0	0		1998-2006	86	30.76
SHT Kandamby (SL)	2004-2010	8	7	101	14.42	53	0	1		2004-2010	33	32.56
Saleem Malik (Pak)	1982-1999	13	10	161	17.88	41	0	0		1982-1999	283	32.88
CL White (Aus)	2005-2011	13	11	167	18.55	42	0	0		2005-2011	87	35.12
AP Kuiper (SA)	1991-1992	8	7	113	18.83	43	0	0		1991-1996	25	33.68
Imran Farhat (Pak)	2001-2006	10	10	174	19.33	38*	0	0		2001-2010	37	30.94
Mahmudullah (Ban)	2007-2011	12	10	160	20.00	42	0	0		2007-2011	68	30.90
ST Jayasuriya (SL)	1989-2007	15	14	264	20.30	44	0	0		1989-2009	444	32.43
MA Taylor (Aus)	1989-1996	10	9	188	20.88	66	0	1		1989-1997	113	32.23
AB de Villiers (SA)	2005-2008	13	13	275	21.15	62	0	2		2005-2011	119	45.68
SM Gavaskar (India)	1974-1983	8	8	151	21.57	65*	0	1		1974-1987	108	35.13
A Flintoff (Eng)	1999-2008	14	8	174	21.75	50	0	1		1999-2009	141	32.01