Having cunningly hedged my bets last week regarding Australian Test player nunber 404, it is now time to roll out a tribute column: the 5 Kraziest Test debuts.
1. Jason Krejza (c) – his first innings figures read like the progress score: 8-215. Conceding more runs than any debutant before him, he nevertheless picked up 12 scalps and ensured Australia lost the Test by fewer than 200 runs. And informed sources tell me his bowling is only his second most-impressive attribute…
2. Rodney Redmond – this blond Julien Wiener lookalike (if that helps you) played just one Test for New Zealand, hit a ton and a fifty and never played again. Go figure. Son Aaron has played 5 Tests and averaged 20, which is 61 less than Dad.
3. Andy Ganteaume – went one better (or worse) than Redmond, playing a single Test innings, scoring a ton, and never playing again. I guess the Windies’ selectors in 1948 didn’t like the sound of “the 3 Ws and a G”. In real life (probably also his debut one) Andy G is 87 not out – what price 100?
4. Stuart Law – may be the love child of Rodney and Andy. No doubt imagines converting that 54* into a ton on a daily basis, and perhaps adding to his one Test boundary.
5. Jack MacBryan – if you think the others were dudded, what about this bloke? Picked for England for the fourth Test in 1924, he didn’t get a bat, didn’t get a bowl and didn’t take a catch. The Test lasted a grand total of 66 overs and England’s would-be first innings was washed out. An opening batsman by trade, Jack found himself in a short but slow-moving queue behind Hobbs and Sutcliffe thereafter. He did, however, win an Olympic gold medal, in hockey at Antwerp in 1920.
With thanks to Grant Marjoribanks for the Rodney Redmond suggestion, and Cricinfo for Jack MacBryan and the stats
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