Almanac Teams: Test debutants at Perth

 

For the upcoming Test Series, I am basing a Test XI on players who made their Test debut at each host ground.

One team of Australians and another of visitors.

The team is a blend of best players and best debuts, I know people will have different views on who should be in and that is all good. It is hard with some venues to fit so many good players in a side.

I will also give a little description on why I chose that player and look forward to all correspondence.

This team is based on both the WACA and Perth/Optus Stadium, after the Test series I will look at teams based in overseas countries.

 

 

 

• Highlights of the team are two Test captains in each team.
• Two players in Greg Chappell and Peter Lever played in the inaugural Test in Perth
• Five Australians played only one Test ever and for the visitors there are three one Test players in Vinay Kumar, Lockie Ferguson and Gavin Tonge
• Four players debuted for Australia in World Series Cricket
• No spinner has debuted for Australia in Perth
• Of the 18 debutants for the visitors, 14 of them are fast bowlers

 

 

 

 

Australia XI

 

John Dyson

Julien Wiener

Ricky Ponting  (C)

Greg Chappell  (VC)

Tom Moody

Stuart Law

Wayne B. Phillips

Paul Reiffel

Glenn McGrath

Simon Cook

Sam Gannon

 

Others: Jo Angel, John Hastings, Clint McKay, Jeff Moss, Wayne N. Phillips, Chris Rogers

Australia is likely to add to this list on Friday with Nathan McSweeney.

 

 

Visiting XI

 

Dean Elgar – South Africa (VC)

Lou Vincent – New Zealand

Rizwan Uz Zaman – Pakistan

J.P. Duminy – South Africa

Chris Cairns – New Zealand

Keshav Maharaj – South Africa

Alex Tudor – England

Graham Dilley – England

Aamer Jamal – Pakistan

Peter Lever – England

Courtney Walsh – West Indies  (C)

 

Others Norman Cowans (England), Vinay Kumar (India), Mohammad Khalil and Khurram Shahzad (Pakistan), Champaka Ramanayake (Sri Lanka), Anderson Cummins and Gavin Tonge (West Indies), Lockie Ferguson (New Zealand).

 

 

John Dyson debut v India 1977

53 and 4

30 Tests, 1,359 runs, average 26.64, Highest Score 127*

 

Maybe weirdly Dyson was my first favourite cricketer (though he was out of the side by the end of summer). At my primary school it seemed nobody could have the same favourite cricketer or football player as anyone else. I had low draft pick and missed out on Chappell, Lillee, Marsh, Border. I chose John Dyson as he was a top scorer in ODIs. I was watching Australia v New Zealand 1980-1981 with 79. Somehow my younger brother nominated Kim  Hughes as his favourite player, unsure how I missed him. By Ashes 1981 my favourite was Terry Alderman, I jumped on him early

 

 

Julien Wiener debut v England 1979

11 and 58

6 Tests, 281 runs, average 25.54. highest score 93

Wiener’s parents were Polish and Austrian Jews who escaped concentration camps during the Holocaust

 

 

Ricky Ponting v Sri Lanka 1995

96

168 Tests, 13,378 runs at 51.85, Highest Score 257, 5 wickets

Ponting should have had 100 on debut but copped a terrible LBW decision against him

 

 

Greg Chappell v England 1970

108 and 1/54

87 Tests, 7,110 runs at 53.86, Highest Score 247*, 47 wickets at 40.70, best bowling 5/61

Chappell’s last Test was against Pakistan in Sydney in 1984 where he made 182 and went past Don Bradman as Australia’s highest run scorer ever

 

 

Tom Moody v New Zealand 1989

61 and 1/23

8 Tests, 456 runs at 32.57, highest score 106, 2 wickets

Unlucky Test cricketer Moody would make a hundred, but one Test later was dropped for Geoff Marsh who was available from injury. Moody’s next Test stint saw him score a 100 on recall before he was dropped again after struggling as an opening bat in Sri Lanka

 

 

Stuart Law v Sri Lanka 1995

54* and 0/18

1 Test, 54 runs

Law was unlucky that he played in an era where Australia had plenty of depth in the batting department. Law’s only Test was for Steve Waugh who was injured

 

Wayne B. Phillips v Pakistan 1983

159

27 Tests, 1,485 runs at 32.38, 52 catches.

Phillips was selected on Test debut as an opener, but once Rodney Marsh retired Phillips kept several times and batted lower in the order

 

 

Paul Reiffel v India 1992

9, 0/46 and 2/34

35 Tests, 955 runs at 26.52, highest score 79*, 104 wickets at 26.96 with best bowling 6/71

Reiffel has now officiated in over 70 Tests as a test umpire

 

 

Glenn McGrath v New Zealand 1993

0, 2/92 and 1/50

124 Tests, 641 runs at 7.36, highest score 61, 563 wickets at 21.64 with best bowling 8/24

For the majority of the 1993-1994 summer two Perth debutants Reiffel and McGrath swapped positions as third bowler and 12^th man

 

 

Simon Cook v New Zealand 1997

3*,  2/36 and 5/39

2 Tests, 3 runs, 7 wickets at 20.28, best bowling 5/39

Cook got an opportunity at Test level with an injury to Glenn McGrath

 

 

Sam Gannon v India 1977

0*, 3/84 and 4/77

3 Tests, 3 runs, 11 wickets and 32.81, best bowling 4/77

Gannon was 30 when he made his test debut and later became chair of the WACA in 2013

 

 

 

Others

Jo Angel v West Indies 1993

0 and 4*, 1/72

4 Tests, 35 runs, 10 wickets at 46.30 with best bowling 3/54

 

 

John Hastings v South Africa 2012

32 and 20, 1/52 and 0/102

1 Test, 52 runs, 1 wicket

AB de Villiers out for 4 is Hastings’ only Test wicket

 

 

Clint McKay v West Indies 2009

10, 0/45 and 1/56

1 Test, 10 runs, 1 wicket

Denesh Ramdin is McKay’s sole Test wicket

 

 

Jeff Moss v Pakistan 1979

22 and 38*

1 Test, 60 runs at 60.00

 

Wayne N. Phillips v India 1992

8 and 14

1 Test, 22 runs at 11.00

 

Chris Rogers v India 2008

4 and 15

25 Tests, 2,015 runs at 42.87, highest score 173

Rogers had to wait five years between his first and second Tests

 

 

 

 

The Visiting XI

 

Dean Elgar – South Africa 2012 (VC)

0 and 0

86 Tests, 5,347 runs at 37.92, highest score 199, 15 wickets at 44.86, best bowling 4/22

Elgar returned to Australia in 2022 as captain of South Africa

 

 

Lou Vincent – New Zealand 2001

104 and 54

40 Tests, 1,332 runs at 34.15, highest score 224

Vincent was selected as wicket keeper in this side, having kept a couple of times at one day level. He also received a life ban in 2014 for match fixing

 

 

Rizwan Uz Zaman – Pakistan 1981

0 and 8

11 Tests, 345 runs at 19.16, highest score 60, 4 wickets at 11.50, best bowling 3/26

Rizwan was out first ball in his first innings

 

 

J.P. Duminy – South Africa 2008

1 and 50*

46 Tests, 2,103 runs at 32.85, highest score 166, 42 wickets at 38.11, best bowling 4/47

Duminy made his highest score in his second Test which was the Boxing Day Test in a historic win

 

 

Chris Cairns – New Zealand 1989

0/60, 1 and 28

62 Tests, 3,320 runs at 33.53, highest score 158, 218 wickets at 29.40, best bowling 7/27

Chris is the son of Lance who had only played his last Test in 1985, four years prior

 

 

Keshav Maharaj – South Africa 2016

16 and 41, 3/56 and 1/94

54 Tests, 1,135 runs at 14.56, highest score 84, 184 wickets at 29.99, best bowling 9/129

Maharaj’s 9/129 was against Sri Lanka in Colombo

 

 

Alex Tudor – England 1998

18* and 0, 4/89 and 1/19

10 Tests, 229 runs at 19.08, highest score 99*, 28 wickets at 34.39, best bowling 5/44

Tudor’s first three Test wickets were Mark and Steve Waugh as well as Ricky Ponting in a spell that saw Australia go from 5/209 to 9/239 in 37 balls

 

 

Graham Dilley – England 1979

2/47 and 1/50, 38* and 16

41 Tests, 521 runs at 13.35. highest score 56, 138 wickets at 29.76, best bowling 6/38

Dilley’s highest score of 56 was in the 1981 Miracle at Headingly test against Australia where he shared a 117 run partnership with Ian Botham

 

 

Aamer Jamal – Pakistan 2023

6/111 and 1/28, 10 and 0

6 Tests, 257 runs at 28.55, highest score 82, 19 wickets at 28.05, best bowling 6/69

Jamal got his highest score of 82 and best bowling figures of 6/69 against Australia in Sydney in his third Test

 

 

Peter Lever – England 1970

2, 1/78 and 1/10

17 Tests, 350 runs at 21.87, highest score 88, 41 wickets at 36.80, best bowling 6/38

Despite being both left arm bowlers in the 1970s, Peter was not related to John Lever

 

 

Courtney Walsh – West Indies  (C)

9* and 2/43

132 tests, 936 runs at 7.54, highest score 30*, 519 wickets at 24.44 , best bowling 7/57

Walsh has the record for the most ducks in Test cricket with 43

 

 

Others

 

Norman Cowans – England 1982

4 and 36, 0/54 and 0/15

19 Tests, 175 runs at 7.95, highest score 36, 51 wickets at 39.27, best bowling 6/77

Cowans was Man of the Match in his fourth Test at Melbourne with 2/69 and 6/77

 

 

Vinay Kumar – India 2012

5 and 6, 1/73

1 Test, 11 runs, 1 wicket

Kumar’s sole wicket was that of Michael Hussey

 

 

Mohammad Khalil  – Pakistan 2004

0/59 and 0/38, 0 and 5

2 Tests, 9 runs, 0 wickets

 

 

Khurram Shahzad – Pakistan 2023

7, 2/83 and 3/45

3 Tests, 24 runs at an average of 12, 14 wickets at 24.85, best bowling 6/90

 

 

Champaka Ramanayake – Sri Lanka 1988

9 and 0, 0/58

18 Tests, 143 runs at 9.93, highest score 34*, 44 wickets at 42.72 , best bowling 5/82

 

 

Anderson Cummins – West Indies 1993

0/24 and 1/31, 3

5 Tests, 98 runs at 19.60, highest score 50, 8 wickets at 42.75, best bowling 4/54

Cummins represented Canada at the age of 40 in the 2007 World Cup

 

 

Gavin Tonge – West Indies 2009

0/85 and 1/28, 2 and 23*

1 Test, 25 runs, 1 wicket

Tonge’s test wicket was Shane Watson lbw (which Watson reviewed – of course)

 

Lockie Ferguson – New Zealand 2019

0/47, 0* and 1*

1 Test, 1 run

 

 

There is a bonus feature with twelve players who made a Test debut at Hobart, Darwin, Canberra or Cairns

 

There are three Australians in this team all of them debuted at Hobart.

 

Of the twelve, nine debuted in Hobart and one each in Canberra, Cairns, and Darwin

 

 

 

 

Hashan Tillakaratne – Sri Lanka

Sam Billings – England

Brad Hodge – Australia

Callum Ferguson – Australia

Sarfraz Ahmed – Pakistan

Chamika Karunaratne – Sri Lanka

Anwar Hossain Monir – Bangladesh

Richard de Groen – New Zealand

Lasith Malinga – Sri Lanka

Shane Bond – New Zealand

Trent Boult – New Zealand

Joe Mennie – Australia

 

 

Hashan Tillakeratne – Hobart 1989

0 and 6, 5 catches as a wicketkeeper

83 Tests, 4,545 runs at 42.87, highest score 204*, 122 catches, 2 stumpings

Tillakeratne started as a wicketkeeper but played majority of his Test career as a batter

 

 

Sam Billings – Hobart 2022

29 and 1, 5 catches

3 Tests, 66 runs at 22, gighest score 36, 8 catches

Billings was also selected for his Test debut as a wicketkeeper

 

 

Brad Hodge – Hobart 2005

60

6 Tests, 503 runs at 55.88, highest score 203

 

 

Callum Ferguson – Hobart 2016

3 and 1

1 Test, 4 runs, average 2

 

 

Sarfraz Ahmed – Hobart 2010

1 and 5, 5 catches

54 Tests, 3,031 runs at 37.41, highest score 118, 160 catches, 22 stumpings

Ahmed was Test captain in 2018-2019

 

 

Chamika Karunaratne – Canberra 2019

1/130 and 0/18, 0 and 22

1 Test, 22 runs, 1 wicket

Karunaratne’s only Test wicket was Marnus Labuschagne

 

 

Anwar Hossain Monir – Cairns 2003

0* and 4, 0/95

1 Test, 4 runs

 

 

Richard de Groen – Hobart 1993

2/113, 0* and 3*

5 Tests, 45 runs at 7.50, highest score 26, 11 wickets at 45.90, best bowling 3/40

 

 

Lasith Malinga – Darwin 2004

2/50 and 4/42, 0 and 0

30 Tests, 275 runs, average 11.45, highest score 64, 101 wickets at 33.15, best bowling 5/50

 

 

Shane Bond – Hobart  2001

1/135

18 Tests, 168 runs at 12.92, highest score 41, 87 wickets at 22.09, best bowling 6/51

Bond was one of the greats that injury prevented from playing more Tests. When he did play, he was a lethal force

 

 

Trent Boult – Hobart 2011

0* and 21, 3/29 and 1/51

78 Tests, 759 runs at 15.81, highest score 52*, 317 wickets at 27.49, best bowling 6/30

 

 

Joe Mennie –  Hobart 2016

10 and 0, 1/85

1 Test, 10 runs, 1 wicket

Mennie’s sole Test wicket was Temba Bavuma

 

 

 

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