Stats: Players with six as their first scoring shot in Test cricket

Sunil Ambris’ Test debut was a delight for the cricket statisticians even though the West Indian aggregated only 18 runs in the game against the Kiwis. The middle-order batsman had an eventful debut game as he got out via hit-wicket on the very first ball off his Test career. Thus, he became the only player to bag a duck on Test debut via hit-wicket. Ambris was also one of the 11 players to bag a duck via hit-wicket in this format and one of the 11 players to be dismissed via hit-wicket on debut.

In the 2nd innings, Ambris tried to play a pull off Trent Boult and accumulated six with help of the top edge helping him to open his account in Test cricket with a six. He didn’t last long in the 2nd innings as he departed after scoring 18 off 32 balls which included a couple of fours as well. By scoring his first runs in Test cricket with a six, Sunil Ambris became only the 11th known player to open runs account with a six in this format.

The first of the 11 players was Australia’s Eric Freeman, who struck a huge six off Erapalli Prasanna on the very 2nd ball he faced in his debut Test match at the Gabba in 1968. The 2nd one was Windies’ Carlisle Best, who hooked Ian Botham for a six on the 3rd ball he faced in the 1986 Kingston Test on his debut. After Best, it needed 19 years to witness a player opening his account in Test cricket with a six when Zimbabwe’s Keith Dabengwa hit Daniel Vettori for a six to get off the mark that too after facing 15 balls.

Dale Richards, who made his Test debut in 2009 against Bangladesh, following the strike by regular players, hit a six off the 4th ball he faced. Richards opened the innings and got off the mark in the very first over of the innings with a huge hit off Mashrafe Mortaza. The next three players to achieve the feat were from Bangladesh whose 2nd scoring shot was also a six. Shafiul Islam hit a six in the first innings on debut and got out on the very next ball in Amit Mishra’s bowling.

In the 2nd innings, Shafiul took once again on Mishra by hitting his 5th ball for a six. The Bangladeshi tried for another big one but instead produced a catch which was put down by an Indian fielder which saw the pacer getting his first runs which weren’t a six in Test cricket. Jahirul Islam, who bagged a duck in his first innings, opened his account with sixes off Graeme Swann and James Tredwell in the 2nd innings. Al-Amin Hossain, who got to face only one ball on debut, hit the 3rd ball he faced in the next innings for a six and went unbeaten on 6 off 7 balls. In the same game, Al-Amin opened his account with a six off the 2nd ball in the 2nd innings.

New Zealand’s Mark Craig achieved a distinction of hitting the first ball he faced for a six in Test cricket which was also the first ball he ever faced in International cricket. Sri Lanka’s Dhananjaya de Silva got off the mark in Test cricket with a six on his Test debut against Australia last year. Kamrul Islam was the recent most one before Sunil Ambris with this feat as the Bangladeshi scored his first runs in Test cricket on the 20th ball he faced after bagging three ducks in three innings.

Players who got off the mark with a Six in Test cricket: (Where recorded)

(Stats as on December 4, 2017)