Inglis, Webster, and Konstas make history
The trio become the first Australians to debut in consecutive tests and score a half century or better.
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Josh Inglis became Australia’s 470th male Test cricketer earlier this week when he was picked to play in the first test against Sri Lanka in Galle.
It is the third consecutive test where Australia have blooded a debutant, following Sam Konstas and Beau Webster in Melbourne and Sydney respectively during the final two matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
This was the first time Australia had played a debutant in three consecutive tests since the 2021/22 home Ashes series against England, when Alex Carey, Michael Neser, and Scott Boland played in Brisbane, Adelaide, and Melbourne. Australia won that series 4-0.
The time before that was across the 2010/11 Ashes series and the 2011 tour of Sri Lanka (i.e., the last time Australia won a Test series in Sri Lanka), when the Aussies gave Baggy Greens to Usman Khawaja and Michael Beer (the final Test against England in Sydney), Trent Copeland and Nathan Lyon (the first test against Sri Lanka in Galle), and Shaun Marsh in Pallekele.
Inglis became the 21st Australian to score a century on their Test debut after making 102. He was the first player to achieve this feat since Adam Voges – his current state level coach – made 130 not out on debut against the West Indies.
The century continued the batting prowess displayed by Australian debutants in recent times, after Konstas ramped his way to an entertaining 60 on Boxing Day and Webster tamed a challenging SCG pitch in the New Year’s Test and scored 53 in the first innings.
This is the first time in Australian Test history where three players debuting in consecutive matches have each scored a half century or better.
Carey, Neser, and Boland batted five times between them in their debut Tests, with Neser top scoring with 35 in his first innings in Adelaide. Khawaja, Beer, Copeland, Lyon, and Marsh’s first Tests were a little better, but resulted in only one score of 50 or more (Marsh’s 141).
You have to go back to the 1998 series against India to get close to this feat occurring. Gavin Robertson made 57 on debut in Chennai, and Darren Lehmann scored 52 on his debut two tests later in Bangalore, but Paul Wilson made a pair during his first (and only) Test in Kolkata in between. But you can’t put too much blame on Blocker, the formidable right-arm quick, given his best return with the bat at first-class level was 32 not out.
There were debutants in three or more consecutive matches in 1996 against India and the West Indies, in 1994 against Pakistan, in 1987 against England and New Zealand, in 1981 against England, and in 1979 against England and Pakistan, but it’s slim pickings to find one half-century among these Tests, let alone multiple.
However, there were two separate runs in 1977 when debutants scored 50 or more runs in two, but not three, consecutive Tests.
The first run started in the centenary Test against England at the MCG with David Hookes making 56 in the second innings before Craig Serjeant made 81 in the first innings at Lord’s three months later. But the streak was broken when Ray Bright, who was debuting at Old Trafford, only made 12 in the first innings.
The final test of the 1977 Ashes at the Oval saw Kim Hughes and Mick Mallone make their first appearance at test level, with the falling on 46 in the first innings, just short of a half century. This unfortunately made Peter Toohey’s 82 and John Dyson’s 53 in their respective debuts in Brisbane and Perth against India redundant for the purposes of this exercise.
There are a few other instances of getting two, but not three, Tests if you go even further back (even all the way back to 1877), which shows how special this achievement is.