BBC SPORT | Cricket | One-ball wonders

As first impressions go, you would find it difficult to top taking a wicket with your first ball in Test cricket.

And that is exactly what Sri Lankan pace bowler Chamila Gamage did, forcing Mohammad Ashraful to play on for three as Bangladesh were bowled out for 164.

The 23-year-old may have had a controversial directive from the Sri Lankan cricket board to thank for his chance in the spotlight - nine first-choice players were rested for the second Test.

Wicket with first Test delivery

A Coningham, Aus v Eng, Melbourne, 1894-95

WM Bradley, Eng v Aus, Manchester, 1899

EG Arnold, Eng v Aus, Sydney, 1903-04

GG Macauley, Eng v SA, Cape Town, 1922-23

MW Tate, Eng v SA, Birmingham, 1924

M Henderson, NZ v Eng, Christchurch, 1929-30

HD Smith, NZ v Eng, Christchurch, 1932-33

TF Johnson, WI v Eng, The Oval, 1939

R Howorth, Eng v SA, The Oval, 1947

Intikhab Alam, Pak v Aus, Karachi, 1959-60

RK Illingworth, Eng v WI, Nottingham, 1991

NM Kulkarni, Ind v SL, Colombo, 1997-98

But he made sure that his name would be in the selectors' thoughts for the future, becoming the first Sri Lankan, and only the 13th bowler in Test history, to achieve the feat.

In addition to his first ball wicket on Sunday he hit a brisk 40, batting at number 11 in the first innings.

But starting your Test career with a bang is no guarantee of continuing in similar fashion, as the first man to do so would attest.

Victorian medium-pacer Arthur Coningham bowled England great Archie MacLaren with the first ball of the second Test at Melbourne in 1894/95, but he never played Test cricket again.

And the second man in the exclusive club, England's Bill Bradley, played just one more than that, despite including the first ball dismissal of Australian Frank Laver with a five-wicket haul at Old Trafford in 1889.

Three other bowlers took wickets with the first ball of their only Test.

In fact, only two have gone on to have successful careers at the highest level.

Maurice Tate, the Sussex off-spinner, took 155 wickets in 39 Tests from his debut in 1924.

Pakistan's Intikhab Alam went on to collect 47 Test caps and 125 wickets before going on to coach the side.

Aside from that pair, the average career expectancy is just four Test caps.

England left-arm spinner Richard Illingworth was a qualified success in the one-day arena, with 25 caps and a spot in the 1992 World Cup squad that reached the final.

Richard Illingworth
Illingworth had little success after his first-ball joy
But he played again just eight times after dismissing Phil Simmons, and following up with the wicket of Viv Richards on his Test debut at Trent Bridge in 1991.

And opening your first spell in style is not even a guarantee of success in that match, as the last bowler to achieve the feat found out, coincidentally also against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Indian off-spinner Nilesh Kulkarni dismissed Marvan Atapattu of Sri Lanka at the Premadasa Stadium on 7 August 1997.

The next wicket fell 1,103 balls later as Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama shared Test cricket's highest and longest partnership on the way to the highest ever Test total.

The skipper made 340, his partner 225 in a 576-run stand lasting 753 minutes, setting the hosts up for a record 952 for six.

Kulkarni's feat was long forgotten by the end of the match, by which time he had bowled 70 overs, conceding 195 runs for that single scalp.


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