England's longest debutant-less streak

Who was the last England player to make a Test debut? Ajmal Shahzad, against Bangladesh in June 2010, and he hasn't played his second match yet. The Lord's Test against India was England's 13th consecutive game without a debutant since Shahzad's appearance, beating their previous longest streak of 12, between 1974 and 1975. It's only the second time England have played more than 10 successive Tests without a debutant, and if they continue the streak for the remainder of the Pataudi Trophy, they'll move up to joint third on the list. This week's column is about teams who played the most consecutive matches without a debutant.

Had Steve Waugh not injured his calf during the chase at Trent Bridge in 2001, and consequently missed the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley, Australia would have played 32 consecutive Tests between 2000 and 2002 without handing out a new baggy green. Waugh, however, had to miss out and Simon Katich made his debut in Leeds - where Mark Butcher pulled off a terrific run-chase - after Australia had played 15 Tests without a debutant. The previous one had been Brett Lee, in the 1999 Boxing Day Test against India. Waugh returned for the fifth Test, at The Oval, though, the start of a 16-match streak without a debut. Their next debutant was Martin Love, a batsman who lasted only five Tests, while Katich didn't reappear in the Test side until October 2003.

Paul Harris, the South African spinner, made his debut in the New Year's Test against India at Newlands in 2007. South Africa's next debutant was JP Duminy at the WACA in December 2008. Between those two matches, Graeme Smith's team played 21 Tests without a debutant, which is the longest such streak. Around that time, India were building a debutant-less streak of their own, of 17 Tests after Ishant Sharma made his debut in May 2007. That run ended in October 2008, when Amit Mishra made his debut against Australia in Mohali.

Most consecutive matches without a debutant - Tests

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	Draw		Start Match	End Match
South Africa	21	14	4	0	3		Jan 11, 2007	Nov 26, 2008
India	17	5	5	0	7		Jul 19, 2007	Oct 9, 2008
Australia	16	12	1	0	3		Aug 23, 2001	Nov 29, 2002
Australia	15	13	2	0	0		Jan 2, 2000	Aug 2, 2001
Australia	14	6	6	0	2		Dec 6, 1968	Mar 5, 1970
West Indies	14	3	1	0	10		Jan 24, 1979	Nov 24, 1980
England	13*	8	2	0	3		Jul 29, 2010	Jul 21, 2011
England	12	3	4	0	5		Jul 4, 1974	Feb 28, 1975
India	12	3	6	0	3		Feb 5, 1976	Jan 14, 1977
South Africa	12	4	4	0	4		Sep 4, 2003	Aug 11, 2004
Australia	11	5	3	0	3		May 29, 1902	Jan 15, 1904
West Indies	11	0	5	0	6		Mar 17, 2006	May 25, 2007
Pakistan	10	3	0	0	7		Feb 11, 1987	Nov 25, 1987
South Africa	10	4	2	0	4		Jan 13, 2005	Dec 26, 2005
Pakistan	10	3	5	0	2		Jul 13, 2006	Jan 26, 2007
New Zealand	9	2	3	0	4		Aug 7, 1969	Feb 25, 1971
England	9	6	1	0	2		Dec 1, 1978	Aug 16, 1979
Australia	9	4	3	0	2		Nov 13, 1981	Mar 19, 1982
Australia	9	4	1	0	4		Dec 8, 1989	Jan 4, 1991
South Africa	9	3	4	0	2		Jan 2, 1994	Nov 25, 1994
Australia	9	5	3	0	1		Feb 1, 1997	Aug 7, 1997
Australia	9	4	3	0	2		Jan 2, 1999	Oct 14, 1999
New Zealand	9	3	3	0	3		Mar 18, 1999	Dec 16, 1999
Sri Lanka	9	6	2	0	1		Nov 21, 2001	Jun 13, 2002
India	9	6	1	0	2		Nov 20, 2004	Sep 20, 2005
South Africa	9	2	6	0	1		Mar 16, 2006	Dec 15, 2006
England	9	3	5	0	1		Jul 13, 2006	Jan 2, 2007

In one-day internationals Australia have the three longest streaks of matches without debutants, and all of them involve World Cup years. In 1989, Australia gave ODI debuts to Mark Taylor and Greg Campbell, Ricky Ponting's uncle, against Sri Lanka at the MCG, after which they played 40 matches without a debutant. They broke that run after qualifying for the 1991-92 World Series finals, resting Dean Jones and giving Paul Reiffel his first cap against India at the SCG.

Australia came within three ODIs of equalling that after Andrew Symonds' debut against Pakistan in Lahore in 1999. They played 37 matches on the trot without a debutant before giving Brett Lee his first ODI cap, at the Gabba in January 2000, also against Pakistan. Between January 2003 and February 2004, Australia also played 38 consecutive ODIs between the debuts of Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey.

India are presently on their longest streak of ODIs without a debutant - 23 matches. They haven't had one since Wriddhiman Saha against New Zealand in November 2010.

Most consecutive matches without a debutant - ODIs

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	NR		Start Match	End Match
Australia	40	32	7	0	1		Dec 30, 1989	Jan 12, 1992
Australia	38	32	5	0	1		Jan 21, 2003	Jan 29, 2004
Australia	37	26	9	2	0		Jan 10, 1999	Oct 24, 1999
Sri Lanka	37	22	11	0	4		Mar 17, 2006	Apr 28, 2007
Pakistan	34	21	13	0	0		Sep 12, 2003	Sep 19, 2004
New Zealand	34	18	14	0	2		Dec 31, 2006	Dec 31, 2007
New Zealand	32	16	15	0	1		Jun 8, 2002	Nov 15, 2003
Sri Lanka	31	20	8	0	3		Jun 5, 2010	Jul 6, 2011
Sri Lanka	30	19	10	0	1		Oct 11, 1995	Sep 7, 1996
Australia	29	22	5	0	2		Feb 6, 2004	Feb 26, 2005
Kenya	25	5	19	0	1		Oct 7, 2001	Apr 5, 2003
Pakistan	24	11	12	0	1		Oct 12, 1995	Aug 31, 1996
South Africa	24	16	7	0	1		Sep 20, 2006	Apr 25, 2007
Sri Lanka	23	12	11	0	0		Nov 30, 2008	Sep 27, 2009
Bangladesh	23*	12	11	0	0		Jul 8, 2010	Apr 13, 2011
India	23*	16	6	1	0		Dec 1, 2010	Jun 16, 2011
New Zealand	22	7	14	1	0		Feb 3, 1996	Feb 23, 1997
India	22	9	12	0	1		Apr 4, 1999	Sep 8, 1999
Australia	22	15	5	1	1		Mar 27, 2002	Jan 15, 2003
Sri Lanka	22	8	13	1	0		Nov 29, 2002	Mar 18, 2003
Zimbabwe	22	7	12	0	3		Nov 27, 2002	Jul 5, 2003
West Indies	21	10	8	2	1		Nov 22, 1991	Apr 12, 1992
Australia	21	13	8	0	0		Jan 21, 1998	Nov 8, 1998
Zimbabwe	21	12	8	0	1		Nov 7, 1998	Jun 11, 1999
Australia	21	17	2	0	2		Mar 14, 2007	Dec 20, 2007
Kenya	21	3	17	0	1		Oct 19, 2008	Oct 18, 2009

Pakistan have played the most consecutive Twenty20 internationals without a debutant - 12 matches between Mohammad Sami's debut in May 2010 and Asad Shafiq's in December the same year.

Most consecutive matches without a debutant - T20Is

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	NR		Start Match	End Match
Pakistan	12	3	9	0	0		May 2, 2010	Dec 26, 2010
Australia	10	7	2	1	0		Feb 26, 2010	Jul 5, 2010
West Indies	8	4	4	0	0		Dec 28, 2008	Jun 19, 2009
England	8	7	0	0	1		May 4, 2010	Sep 7, 2010
Sri Lanka	7	5	2	0	0		Jun 10, 2009	Aug 12, 2009
New Zealand	7	3	3	1	0		Feb 26, 2010	May 10, 2010
West Indies	7	3	4	0	0		Apr 30, 2010	May 20, 2010
Sri Lanka	7	4	3	0	0		May 7, 2010	Oct 31, 2010
Australia	6	3	3	0	0		Sep 14, 2007	Oct 20, 2007
South Africa	6	5	1	0	0		Jun 7, 2009	Jun 18, 2009
Afghanistan	6*	3	3	0	0		Feb 9, 2010	May 5, 2010
Bangladesh	5	1	4	0	0		Sep 2, 2007	Sep 18, 2007
Pakistan	5	4	1	0	0		Sep 17, 2007	Sep 24, 2007
South Africa	5	2	3	0	0		May 2, 2010	May 10, 2010