Michael Clarke's five-year wait

One of the ideas Travis proposed for last week's List was players who had gone the most innings without bettering their performance on debut. Michael Clarke was up there, having made 151 in his first Test in Bangalore and not gone past 150 in his next 57 matches. He promptly went and scored 166 in the third Test against Pakistan in Hobart. The 94 innings between Clarke's debut hundred and this one are the most a player has ever gone before bettering a performance on Test debut. So this week we've looked at others who took ages before improving on career highs achieved on debut, and those who never managed to.

England fast bowler Darren Gough played the most Test innings without ever improving on his debut performance - with the bat. Gough made 65 in his first Test, against New Zealand at Old Trafford in 1994, and then went 85 innings with only one more half-century - 51 at the SCG in 1995.

Another England fast bowler, John Lever, reached peaks in his debut Test that he never scaled later during his career. Lever scored 53 in Delhi in 1976, took 7 for 46 in the first innings and finished with 10 for 70 in the match. He played 20 more Tests but his next best performances were an unbeaten 33 and 5 for 59.

When Chris Martin made 7 on debut in Bloemfontein in 2000, little did we realise that it wouldn't get much better for him. He equalled that career high, making another 7 at Lord's in 2004, but it wasn't until his 49th innings - 12 against Bangladesh in Dunedin in 2008 - that he bettered it.

Australian fast bowler Rodney Hogg took 6 for 74 on debut against England at the Gabba in 1978 and then never bettered that performance in 65 further innings. It's the most anyone has played without improving on their debut bowling performance in Tests.

Brett Lee burst onto the Test circuit with 5 for 47 in the first innings against India at the MCG in 1999. That performance remained his best for ages, until November 2005, when he took 5 for 30 against West Indies in Brisbane. It remains Lee's best innings figures to date, so he's bettered his performance on debut only once in 150 innings.

Fidel Edwards, the West Indies fast bowler, had sparkling debuts in both Tests and ODIs. He wrecked Sri Lanka with 5 for 36 in his first Test innings, in Kingston in 2003. Only 36 Tests and 61 innings later did he improve on it, taking 7 for 87 in Napier in 2008. Edwards' 6 for 22 in Harare in 2003 is the record for best bowling figures on ODI debut. He hasn't bettered that in 50 ODIs since. For a bowler as fierce as he was, Allan Donald took a while to better his excellent debut - 5 for 29 in 8.4 overs against India in Kolkata 1991, South Africa's first-ever ODI and first match since their isolation ended. He was only the third bowler to take a five-for on ODI debut at the time. Donald's second, and last, five-wicket haul was in his 64th ODI - a 6 for 23 that shot out Kenya in Nairobi in 1996.

Two of the five batsmen who scored centuries on ODI debut - Desmond Haynes and Andy Flower - played the most innings before bettering those performances. Haynes, whose 148 against Australia in Antigua is the highest score by a debutant, took 158 ODIs over 10 years to better his debut score, with 152 not out against India in Guyana.

Flower made his debut against Sri Lanka during the 1992 World Cup and scored an unbeaten 115 to become Pukekura Park's only centurion. His second century was also an unbeaten one against Sri Lanka but that 120 not out in Sharjah came eight years and 147 innings after his first.

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