Shaun Marsh became the 19th Australian and 91st batsman overall to score a hundred on his debut in Test cricket. The left-hand top order batsman from Narrogin who made his Test debut after playing 61 first class matches, made 141 in 420 minutes off 315 balls with 18 fours on the third day of the second Test match against Sri Lanka at Pallekele Cricket Stadium on Saturday (September 10).
The first batsman to achieve this feat was Australian’s Charles Bannerman. The right hand opening batsman made an unbeaten 165 in the first ever Test match against England at Melbourne in 1876-77. It was also the first ever century in Test match cricket.
Shaun Marsh’s 141 was the seventh highest score by an Australian batsman on debut. Charles Bannerman’s unbeaten 165 against England at Melbourne in 1876-77 is the highest on debut by an Australian batsman.
The record of scoring the highest ever score on debut is held by England’s Reginald Erskine Foster who made 287 against Australia at Sydney in 1903-04. Besides Foster, West Indian Lawrence Rowe, Sri Lankan Brendon Kuruppu, South African Jacques Rudolph and New Zealand’s Mathew Sinclair are the other four batsmen who hit a double century on debut. Australian William Ponsford, Doug Walters and Greg Blewett, West Indian Alvin Kallicharran, Mohammed Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly from India are the six batsmen who scored a century in the second Test match after scoring a hundred on debut. Besides 19 Australians, 18 batsmen from England, 13 West Indian batsmen, 12 batsmen from India, 11 batsmen from Pakistan, eight batsmen from New Zealand, three batsmen each from Sri Lanka and South Africa and two batsmen each from Bangladesh and Zimbabwe also achieved this feat.
West Indian Lawrence Rowe and Pakistan’s Yasir Hameed are the only two batsmen who scored centuries in both innings on debut.
