Hitting a test century in their debut test match is often hailed as one of the most highlighted and glorious moments of a cricketer’s career and on top of it, when they bring down the curtain on their test cricket career with the same intensity and smash a ton, it becomes even more exceptional for the cricketers and their fervent fan base. Over the years, a few cricketers have unleashed their greatest potential on the field and have been able to achieve the sensational achievement of scoring a century on their debut as well as in their career’s last test match.
In this article we will take a look at the top five legendary cricketers who began their test careers with a century and also concluded with a century.
- Reggie Duff
Well, this will certainly take you down the memory lane! The first cricketer in our list of top five cricketers who scored a century in their first and last test match is former Australian international cricketer Reginald Alexander Duff, popularly named as “Reggie Duff”. Often hailed as “the specialist batsman” of the test format, Reggie Duff represented Australia in the test format from 1902 to 1905 and played a total of twenty-two matches for the Australian side. Reggie Duff created history after he smashed a roaring century (104*runs) in his debut test match against England in 1902 and became the first-ever cricketer to achieve the glorious feat. Reggie Duff concluded his test cricket career with a phenomenal century (146* runs) against England again on 14th August 1905.
- William Ponsford
Another Australian cricketer, William Harold Ponsford, who played as an opening batsman for the Aussies in test cricket, is at second spot in our list of top five cricketers who scored a century in their first and last test match. William Ponsford made one of the most successful test debuts for the Australian national cricket team against England on 19 December 1924 and struck a match-winning century (128* runs) for the Aussies side, which established him as a mainstay in the Australian test squad for over a decade from 1924 to 1934. Later, William Ponsford played his career’s last cricket match against England and repeated the glorious history all over again by hitting a dominating century (266* runs) against England on 22 August 1934.
- Alastair Cook
Read More
At the third spot in our list of top five cricketers who scored a century in their first and last test match, we have former English international cricketer and skipper of the England squad in the Test and ODI formats, Sir Alastair Nathan Cook. Often considered as one of the greatest opening batsmen in the test format, Alastair Cook made his test debut for England against India in March 2006 and instantly became a mainstay for the English side with his stellar debut knock of 104* runs. Ironically, Alastair Cook played his career’s last test match against India in 2018 at the Oval and brought down the curtain with a star-studded innings of 147* runs.
- Greg Chappell
Well, if we’re talking about the legendary cricketers who shook the world of test cricket with their iconic innings, it’s practically impossible to not highlight former Australian cricketer Gregory Stephen Chappell, popularly known as “Greg Chappell”. The exceptional Australian all-rounder proved to be a fierce attacker as he faced England in his debut test match on 11 December 1970 and scored a stellar knock of 108* runs. Greg Chappell ended his glorious 14-year-long test career on a triumphant note against Pakistan and managed to hit a dominating century against Pakistan’s deadly pace attack.
- Mohammad Azharuddin
At the fifth spot on our list of top five cricketers who scored a century in their first and last test match we have former Indian international cricketer and captain of the Indian national cricket team Mohammad Azharuddin, who captained the Indian side in a total of three cricket world cups during the 1990s. Mohammad Azharuddin played his debut test match against England on 31 December 1984 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata and took the English bowling unit by storm with his dominating 110* runs innings. The former Indian captain played his career’s last test match against South Africa in 2000 and scored a phenomenal total of 102* runs.
Also Read: Top 5 Incidents Where Tennis Underdogs Shocked The Sports World
