50 years since Bob Massie's debut; best ever Test debut?

[Harsh Thakor]

Today we celebrate 50 years since Bob Massie made Test Cricket's most spectacular and astonishing debut,capturing 16 wickets,with 8 wickets apiece n each innings.Arguably test cricket's best ever debut performance by a cricketer let alone a bowler.Massie took art of swing to regions rarely transcended ,exploiting the seaming conditions to the fullest.He pitched the ball in exactly the correct spot to let the wicket and conditions do the rest.Line and length absolutely immaculate ,moving the ball in and out. The ball that dismissed Geoff Boycott was beauty which penetrated his impregnable defense to crash though his gate.It created he base for the renaissance Australian cricket under Ian Chappell.The batsmen were totally bemused which direction the ball was travelling.Possibly the best ever exhibition of fast-medium swing.



Sadly he faded after only playing 6 more tests.Earlier he also gave a striking blow to the Rest of he World team in 1972.

 

[James]

Sixteen wickets in his first Test!

There have been many impressive debuts by batters as well. Andrew Strauss I remember as a good debut.

 

[sweep_shot]

Never heard of this guy. Seems like he has the best debut in cricket history.

I wonder why he only played 6 games.

 

[jeetu]

Batsman with 200+ runs in debut match
[table=class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Player [/td][td]1st [/td][td]2nd [/td][td]Runs [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]LG Rowe [/td][td]214 [/td][td]100* [/td][td]314 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]RE Foster [/td][td]287 [/td][td]19 [/td][td]306 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Yasir Hameed [/td][td]170 [/td][td]105 [/td][td]275 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]KR Mayers [/td][td]40 [/td][td]210* [/td][td]250 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]DP Conway [/td][td]200 [/td][td]23 [/td][td]223 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]JA Rudolph [/td][td]222* [/td][td]- [/td][td]222 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]KS Ranjitsinhji [/td][td]62 [/td][td]154* [/td][td]216 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]MS Sinclair [/td][td]214 [/td][td]- [/td][td]214 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]KC Wessels [/td][td]162 [/td][td]46 [/td][td]208 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Umar Akmal [/td][td]129 [/td][td]75 [/td][td]204 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]DSBP Kuruppu [/td][td]201* [/td][td]- [/td][td]201 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]A Jackson [/td][td]164 [/td][td]36 [/td][td]200 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]CG Greenidge [/td][td]93 [/td][td]107 [/td][td]200 [/td][/tr]
[/table]

Bowlers with 10+ wickets in debut match
[table=class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Player [/td][td]Overs [/td][td]Wkts [/td][td]Runs [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]ND Hirwani [/td][td]33.5 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]136 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]RAL Massie [/td][td]60.1 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]137 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]F Martin [/td][td]57.2x5 [/td][td]12 [/td][td]102 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]JJ Krejza [/td][td]74.5 [/td][td]12 [/td][td]358 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]CV Grimmett [/td][td]31.3x8 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]82 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]CS Marriott [/td][td]41.1 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]96 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]AE Hall [/td][td]62.3 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]112 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Mohammad Zahid [/td][td]41 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]130 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]AV Bedser [/td][td]61.2 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]145 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]P Jayawickrama [/td][td]64 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]178 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]SF Burke [/td][td]81 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]196 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]AL Valentine [/td][td]106 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]204 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]JK Lever [/td][td]36.4 [/td][td]10 [/td][td]70 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]HHH Johnson [/td][td]65.5 [/td][td]10 [/td][td]96 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]T Richardson [/td][td]67.4x5 [/td][td]10 [/td][td]156 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]K Farnes [/td][td]65.2 [/td][td]10 [/td][td]179 [/td][/tr]
[/table]

AR with 5+ wickets and 50+ runs in debut match
[table=class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Player [/td][td]Runs [/td][td]HS [/td][td]Bat Av [/td][td]Wkts [/td][td]Bowl Av [/td][td]Ave Diff [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]AE Trott (AUS) [/td][td]110 [/td][td]72* [/td][td]- [/td][td]8 [/td][td]6.5 [/td][td]- [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]BR Taylor (NZ) [/td][td]105 [/td][td]105 [/td][td]105 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]17.2 [/td][td]87.8 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]TG Southee (NZ) [/td][td]82 [/td][td]77* [/td][td]82 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]27.8 [/td][td]54.2 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]RJ Peterson (SA) [/td][td]61 [/td][td]61 [/td][td]61 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]13.6 [/td][td]47.4 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]JK Lever (ENG) [/td][td]53 [/td][td]53 [/td][td]53 [/td][td]10 [/td][td]7 [/td][td]46 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]RC Blunt (NZ) [/td][td]52 [/td][td]45* [/td][td]52 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]6.8 [/td][td]45.2 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]AW Greig (ENG) [/td][td]119 [/td][td]62 [/td][td]59.5 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]14.8 [/td][td]44.7 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]LC Braund (ENG) [/td][td]58 [/td][td]58 [/td][td]58 [/td][td]7 [/td][td]14.42 [/td][td]43.57 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]R Howorth (ENG) [/td][td]68 [/td][td]45* [/td][td]68 [/td][td]6 [/td][td]24.83 [/td][td]43.16 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]D Gough (ENG) [/td][td]65 [/td][td]65 [/td][td]65 [/td][td]6 [/td][td]25.33 [/td][td]39.66 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]WR Hammond (ENG) [/td][td]51 [/td][td]51 [/td][td]51 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]11.4 [/td][td]39.6 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Tahir Naqqash (PAK) [/td][td]57 [/td][td]57 [/td][td]57 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]23.4 [/td][td]33.6 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]MA Ealham (ENG) [/td][td]51 [/td][td]51 [/td][td]51 [/td][td]6 [/td][td]18.5 [/td][td]32.5 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]CM Old (ENG) [/td][td]50 [/td][td]33* [/td][td]- [/td][td]6 [/td][td]19.16 [/td][td]- [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]S Abid Ali (INDIA) [/td][td]66 [/td][td]33 [/td][td]33 [/td][td]7 [/td][td]16.57 [/td][td]16.42 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]DG Cork (ENG) [/td][td]53 [/td][td]30 [/td][td]26.5 [/td][td]8 [/td][td]14.37 [/td][td]12.12 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]AIC Dodemaide (AUS) [/td][td]53 [/td][td]50 [/td][td]26.5 [/td][td]7 [/td][td]15.14 [/td][td]11.35 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]RM Hogg (AUS) [/td][td]52 [/td][td]36 [/td][td]26 [/td][td]7 [/td][td]15.57 [/td][td]10.42 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]FR Foster (ENG) [/td][td]77 [/td][td]56 [/td][td]38.5 [/td][td]7 [/td][td]28.14 [/td][td]10.35 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]PL Taylor (AUS) [/td][td]53 [/td][td]42 [/td][td]26.5 [/td][td]8 [/td][td]19.25 [/td][td]7.25 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]CJ Jordan (ENG) [/td][td]54 [/td][td]35 [/td][td]27 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]27.2 [/td][td]-0.19 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]AP Freeman (ENG) [/td][td]50 [/td][td]50* [/td][td]50 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]51.6 [/td][td]-1.59 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]GR Robertson (AUS) [/td][td]57 [/td][td]57 [/td][td]28.5 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]32.8 [/td][td]-4.29 [/td][/tr]
[/table]