Stats: Test debutants winning the Man of the Match award

Australia’s Adam Voges reaches his century on debut against West Indies

Adam Voges was declared Man of the Match for his efforts in scoring an unbeaten 130 in the first innings against West Indies at Dominica, Roseau, which helped Australia take a healthy lead of 170 runs and then win the match by nine wickets. It was a good start to the Test career of Adam Voges, albeit a very late one at the age of 35. By scoring a century, Voges became the oldest to score a century on Test debut at the age of 35 years and 243 days.

Bagging the Man of the Match award on one’s debut Test definitely speaks of the talent and skill of the player, and about the individual’s ability of handling pressure.

The Man of the Match award has been a regular feature of cricket matches since the 1990s only, though the award started in 1970s. Since then, there have been a good number of players who have got it on their Test debut – a total of 39 times, including Voges.

The 39 players are listed below, grouped by teams.

Australia: (8)

Player	Batting	Bowling	Fielding	For	Against	Venue	Date
Kepler Wessels	162 & 46	DNB	1 & 1	Australia	England	Brisbane	26-Nov-82
Peter Taylor	11 & 42	6/78 & 2/76	-	Australia	England	SCG	10-Jan-87
Michael Clarke	151 & 17	DNB & 0/4	-	Australia	India	Bangalore	06-Oct-04
Stuart Clark	8 & DNB	5/55 & 4/34	-	Australia	South Africa	Cape Town	16-Mar-06
Jason Krejza	5 & 4	8/215 & 4/143	1	Australia	India	Nagpur	06-Nov-08
Pat Cummins	2 & 13*	1/38 & 6/79	-	Australia	South Africa	Johannesburg	17-Nov-11
James Pattinson	12 & DNB	1/64 & 5/27	-	Australia	New Zealand	Brisbane	01-Dec-11
Adam Voges	130* & DNB	DNB & 0/48	1	Australia	West Indies	Dominica	03-Jun-15

Kepler Wessels was the first Australian and first overall to earn the Man of the Match on his Test debut. There was no player for Australia in the 1990s on the list, while six feature since 2000.

Pat Cummins got Man of the Match on his debut, but is yet to play another Test for Australia.

Kepler Wessels, Michael Clarke and Adam Voges scored a century on Test debut, while the other five were bowlers who picked up five-wicket hauls.

Jason Krejza conceded 358 runs for 12 wickets on his debut – the most runs conceded on Test debut and second highest overall.

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Bangladesh: (3)

Player	Batting	Bowling	Fielding	For	Against	Venue	Date
Javed Omar	62 & 85*	DNB	-	Bangladesh	Zimbabwe	Bulawayo	19-Apr-01
Mohammad Ashraful	26 & 114	0/63	-	Bangladesh	Sri Lanka	Colombo (SSC)	06-Sep-01
Elias Sunny	0 & DNB	6/94 & 1/34	-	Bangladesh	West Indies	Chittagong	21-Oct-11

Mohammad Ashraful with 114 on his Test debut became the youngest centurion in Test cricket at the age of 17 years and 63 days.

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England: (6)

Player	Batting	Bowling	Fielding	For	Against	Venue	Date
Phil Newport	26 & DNB	3/77 & 4/87	-	England	Sri Lanka	Lord's	25-Aug-88
Graham Thorpe	6 & 114*	DNB	1 & 1	England	Australia	Trent Bridge	01-Jul-93
Dominic Cork	30 & 23	1/72 & 7/43	-	England	West Indies	Lord's	22-Jun-95
Richard Johnson	24	6/33 & 0/67	-	England	Zimbabwe	Durham	05-Jun-03
James Kirtley	1 & 3	2/80 & 6/34	1 & 1	England	South Africa	Trent Bridge	14-Aug-03
Andrew Strauss	112 & 83	DNB	1	England	New Zealand	Lord's	20-May-04

Phil Newport did not score above 50, nor did he pick up a five-wicket haul, but his seven wickets in the match got him the award.

Pravin Amre turning out for India in 1992

India: (5)

Player	Batting	Bowling	Fielding	For	Against	Venue	Date
Pravin Amre	103	DNB	-	India	South Africa	Durban	13-Nov-92
RP Singh	6 & DNB	4/89 & 1/75	-	India	Pakistan	Faisalabad	21-Jan-06
Ravichandran Ashwin	0 & DNB	3/81 & 6/47	-	India	West Indies	Delhi	06-Nov-11
Shikhar Dhawan	187 & DNB	-	-	India	Australia	Mohali	14-Mar-13
Rohit Sharma	177	DNB	1	India	West Indies	Kolkata	06-Nov-13

The present opening pair in the Indian batting line-up – Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma – have both received Man of the Match awards on their Test debut for scoring 187 and 177 respectively – the top two individual scores on Test debut for India.

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New Zealand: (3)

Player	Batting	Bowling	Fielding	For	Against	Venue	Date
Stephen Fleming	16 & 92	DNB	2	New Zealand	India	Hamilton	19-Mar-94
Mathew Sinclair	214	DNB	-	New Zealand	West Indies	Wellington	26-Dec-99
Mark Craig	DNB & 7*	4/91 & 4/94	-	New Zealand	West Indies	Jamaica	08-Jun-14

Mathew Sinclair is one of five batsmen to score a double century on Test debut, the others being Tip Foster (287) in 1903, Jacques Rudolf (222*) in 2003, Lawrence Rowe (214) in 1972 and Brendon Kuruppu (201*) in 1987. Rudolf also received the award on his debut. The award was not given in other three matches.

Mark Craig, on his debut, became the first player to hit a six off his career’s first ball in Test cricket.

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Pakistan: (5)

Player	Batting	Bowling	Fielding	For	Against	Venue	Date
Mohammad Zahid	0	4/64 & 7/66	-	Pakistan	New Zealand	Rawalpindi	28-Nov-96
Azhar Mahmood	128* & 50*	2/74	-	Pakistan	South Africa	Rawalpindi	06-Oct-97
Mohammad Sami	0* & DNB	3/70 & 5/36	-	Pakistan	New Zealand	Auckland	08-Mar-01
Yasir Hameed	170 & 105	DNB	1	Pakistan	Bangladesh	Karachi	20-Aug-03
Fawad Alam	16 & 168	DNB	-	Pakistan	Sri Lanka	Colombo (PSS)	12-Jul-09

Azhar Mahmood had unbeaten scores of 128 & 50 batting at number 8 and 7 in the match respectively.

Yasir Hameed became only the second player to score twin centuries on Test debut after Lawrence Rowe (214 & 100*) in 1972 for West Indies.

Fawad Alam's 168 is the second highest score on debut in a team's second innings after George Headley’s 176 in 1930 for West Indies.

South Africa’s Dane Piedt took a wicket off his first ball in Test cricket

South Africa: (6)

Player	Batting	Bowling	Fielding	For	Against	Venue	Date
Andrew Hudson	163 & 0	DNB	1	South Africa	West Indies	Bridgetown	18-Apr-92
Jacques Rudolph	222*	DNB	1	South Africa	Bangladesh	Chittagong	24-Apr-03
Vernon Philander	4 & DNB	3/63 & 5/15	-	South Africa	Australia	Cape Town	09-Nov-11
Faf du Plessis	78 & 110*	0/34 & 0/8	-	South Africa	Australia	Adelaide	22-Nov-12
Kyle Abbott	13	7/29 & 2/39	-	South Africa	Pakistan	Centurion	22-Feb-13
Dane Piedt	13 & DNB	4/90 & 4/62	2	South Africa	Zimbabwe	Harare	09-Aug-14

Andrew Hudson scored 163 in South Africa’s first match after readmission in 1992.

Faf du Plessis is one of seven players to score a century in the 4th innings in debut match.

Dane Piedt took a wicket off his first ball in Test cricket.

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Sri Lanka: (0)

No Sri Lankan player has got the Man of the Match award on Test debut.

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West Indies: (2)

Player	Batting	Bowling	Fielding	For	Against	Venue	Date
Patrick Patterson	0* & DNB	4/30 & 3/44	1	West Indies	England	Jamaica	21-Feb-86
Franklyn Rose	14* & DNB	6/100 & 1/23	-	West Indies	India	Jamaica	06-Mar-97

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Zimbabwe: (1)

Player	Batting	Bowling	Fielding	For	Against	Venue	Date
Hamilton Masakadza	9 & 119	0/3	-	Zimbabwe	West Indies	Harare	27-Jul-01

Hamilton Masakadza was the youngest Test centurion when he scored 119 on his debut. Only about one month later the record was clinched by Mohammad Ashraful.

Notes:

# Out of 39 players, nine accomplished this feat against West Indies, five of those in this decade.

# Jamaica and Lord's are the two venues where three players got Man of the Match on debut.