The List

They hadn't played much Test cricket

Limited-overs teams comprising players with extremely little Test experience, like the present West Indies and Pakistan sides playing in the Caribbean

The West Indians in the present limited-overs side are extremely light on Test caps  Getty Images

Danza Hyatt, Christopher Barnwell, Ashley Nurse and Anthony Martin. Mohammad Salman, Hammad Azam and Junaid Khan. For most people tuning into the limited-overs leg of Pakistan's tour of West Indies, unless you are from those regions (and perhaps not even then), those were unfamiliar players. Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Gayle, Younis and Gul were all absent. In this week's List we've dug up limited-overs teams comprising players with the fewest Test caps, and the XIs Pakistan and West Indies fielded in the Twenty20 and the first two ODIs feature prominently. We've had to omit Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh because they played one-dayers before Tests.

Loading ...

Pakistan
Pakistan rested Younis Khan and Umar Gul from the ongoing limited-overs series in the Caribbean, while dropping wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal from the whole tour. As a result, their XI for the Twenty20 had only 101 Test caps, while the teams for the first and second ODI had 95 each. Shahid Afridi, who's played only 27 Tests since debuting in 1998, had the most experience, ahead of Misbah-ul-Haq (23). Though these three XIs rank in the top five for Pakistan, they aren't as light on Test experience as the team that played Zimbabwe at Sheikhupura in 2008. Only four players - Younis, Shoaib Malik, Misbah and Sohail Tanvir - had played Tests in that team, a total of 91 matches among them.

Least Test caps in an ODI or T20I team - Pakistan
Opposition GroundSeries Start Date Scorecard Tests Max None
v Zimbabwe Sheikhupura Zimbabwe in Pakistan 2 Feb 2008ODI 2669 91 58 7
v West IndiesGros Islet Pakistan in West Indies 23 Apr 2011 ODI 3152 95 274
v West Indies Gros Islet Pakistan in West Indies 25 Apr 2011ODI 3153 95 27 4
v EnglandLahore England in Pakistan 13 Jan 1978 ODI 47 99 384
v West Indies Gros Islet Pakistan in West Indies 21 Apr 2011T20I 199 101 27 3

West Indies
The Twenty20 against Pakistan in St Lucia was the third time West Indies were fielding a limited-overs XI with 52 Test caps. This latest instance was because the WICB wanted to plan for the future and blood young players. The most experienced Test player was Marlon Samuels, who had played 29 matches, ahead of Darren Sammy, who was the only other West Indian with more than ten caps. The previous two occasions they played teams with 52 Test caps was in the third ODI against Bangladesh at St Kitts in 2009, and against India in the Champions Trophy in South Africa. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle, among several others, were missing from those games because of a player strike.

Least Test caps in an ODI or T20I team - West Indies
Opposition GroundSeries Start Date Scorecard Tests Max None
v Bangladesh Basseterre Bangladesh in West Indies 31 Jul 2009ODI 2865 52 31 4
v IndiaJohannesburg ICC Champions Trophy 30 Sep 2009 ODI 2904 52 314
v Pakistan Gros Islet Pakistan in West Indies 21 Apr 2011T20I 199 52 29 5
v BangladeshBasseterre Bangladesh in West Indies 2 Aug 2009 T20I 117 54 313
v Australia Johannesburg ICC Champions Trophy 26 Sep 2009ODI 2897 56 31 2

India
In May and June 2010, in between the World Twenty20 and the Asia Cup, India sent a squad to Zimbabwe for a tri-series and two T20s. They rested all their Test players from that series, and most one-day stars too, and the XI that played the first T20 had eight players without Test experience. M Vijay, Amit Mishra and Piyush Chawla had ten caps between them. Few people will remember those obscure matches but that tour made the IPL careers of wicketkeeper Naman Ojha, and fast bowlers Pankaj Singh and Umesh Yadav. By virtue of winning an India cap, they qualified for the IPL auction in January 2011 and hit the jackpot. Yadav was bought for for $750,000, Ojha for $ 270,000, and Pankaj for $95,000.

Least Test caps in an ODI or T20I team - India
Opposition Ground Series Start DateScorecard Tests Max None
v Zimbabwe Harare India in Zimbabwe 12 Jun 2010 T20I 182 105 8
v Zimbabwe Harare India in Zimbabwe13 Jun 2010 T20I 183 17 9 8
v Sri Lanka Harare Zimbabwe Triangular Series 5 Jun 2010 ODI 2988
26 23 9
v Zimbabwe Bulawayo
Zimbabwe Triangular Series 28 May 2010 ODI 2981 37 23 8
v Sri Lanka Bulawayo Zimbabwe Triangular Series 30 May 2010 ODI 2983
40 23 7

New Zealand
The squads for two one-day series in Sharjah, in 1994 and 2001, were the lightest New Zealand were in terms of Test caps. In 1994, though most of the team had some Test experience, Adam Parore and Chris Pringle's nine matches were the most. Stephen Fleming was only beginning his illustrious career at the time, and had played one Test. In 2001, the likes of Fleming and Vettori didn't make the trip to Sharjah and Craig McMillan, with 31 Tests, was New Zealand's most experienced player. That squad was more experienced than the 1994 novices though and the XIs had 86-91 caps among them.

Least Test caps in an ODI or T20I team - New Zealand
Opposition Ground Series Start Date Scorecard
Tests Max None
v Sri Lanka
Sharjah Pepsi Austral-Asia Cup 18 Apr 1994 ODI 909 48 93
v Pakistan Sharjah Pepsi Austral-Asia Cup 20 Apr 1994
ODI 911 48 9 3
v Australia
Sharjah Pepsi Austral-Asia Cup 16 Apr 1994 ODI 907 83 352
v Sri Lanka Sharjah ARY Gold Cup 10 Apr 2001
ODI 1705 86 31 4
v Pakistan
Sharjah ARY Gold Cup 12 Apr 2001 ODI 1707 87 314
v Sri Lanka Sharjah ARY Gold Cup 17 Apr 2001
ODI 1710 87 31 5
v Pakistan
Sharjah ARY Gold Cup 15 Apr 2001 ODI 1709 91 314

England
The fewest Test caps in an England ODI side is 91 in the ODI against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in 2001. Mark Ramprakash, with 46 Tests, had the most, ahead of Nick Knight, Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Flintoff, Ryan Sidebottom and Ben Hollioake. The players in that XI without Test experience were Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Paul Grayson, James Foster and James Kirtley. It was only the second time England had fielded a limited-overs team with fewer than 100 Test caps.

Least Test caps in an ODI or T20I team - England
OppositionGround Series Start Date Scorecard Tests MaxNone
v Zimbabwe Bulawayo England in Zimbabwe10 Oct 2001 ODI 1756 91 46 5
v Pakistan Sahiwal England in Pakistan 23 Dec 1977 ODI 45
93 34 2
v India Indore
England in India 15 Apr 2006 ODI 2362 100 26 2
v Pakistan Nottingham NatWest Series 8 Sep 2006 ODI 2411
101 31 4
v Pakistan Birmingham
NatWest Series 10 Sep 2006 ODI 2412 101 31 4

Australia
Most of Australia's limited-overs sides with fewer than 100 Test caps were either during the Packer years, when players were banned from the team, or when Bangladesh toured in 2008, when the established players were rested. As recently as February 2011, though, Australia played a team against England with 99 Test caps in the absence of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke. Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin had 74 of the 99 caps in the team led by Cameron White.

Least Test caps in an ODI or T20I team - Australia
Opposition Ground Series Start Date Scorecard
Tests Max None
v England
Melbourne England in Australia 24 Jan 1979 ODI 58 55 122
v Pakistan Nottingham Prudential World Cup 13 Jun 1979
ODI 66 84 18 1
v England
Melbourne England in Australia 4 Feb 1979 ODI 59 89 180
v England Melbourne England in Australia 7 Feb 1979
ODI 60 89 18 0
v New Zealand
Christchurch Australia in New Zealand 28 Feb 2010 T20I 149 90 587

Travis Basevi is a cricket statistician and UK Senior Programmer for Cricinfo and other ESPN sports websites. George Binoy is an Assistant Editor at ESPNcricinfo