In cricket, a one-Test wonder is usually a cricketer who is only selected for one Test match during his career and never represents his country again. This is not necessarily due to a poor performance and can be for numerous reasons, such as injury or strong competition from other players.[1][2][3] The term is also used in rugby.[4]
More rarely, the term may refer to a player who has played in more than one Test, but was very successful only once. Examples include the bowlers Narendra Hirwani of India[5] and Bob Massie of Australia,[6] both of whom took eight wickets in each innings of their debut matches, but then failed to live up to their early promise. Spin bowler Ashton Agar of Australia played just 5 tests, taking 9 wickets, but his most notable contribution was in his first test and with the bat as he scored 98 on debut as the final Australian batsman, breaking multiple records including being the first test player to score a half-century as a number eleven batsman on debut and the highest score by any number eleven batsman.[7][8]
Notable examples
As of June 2023, there have been 466 players who have only played one Test match.[9][10] Some of the best performances by these players are:
Andy Ganteaume, who scored 112 for the West Indies in his only Test innings in 1948, and so has one of the highest Test batting averages of all time.[11]
Stuart Law scored 54 not out in his only Test innings for Australia in 1995, leaving him without a Test average as he was not required to bat in the second innings.[14]
Charles Marriott recorded match figures of 11 for 96 (5 for 37 and 6 for 59) in his only Test for England in 1933.[16][17] No other bowler has taken more than ten wickets in his only Test.[18]
Among wicket-keepers, Indian player Rajindernath made four stumpings in his only Test in 1952, but was not called on to bat.[19]
Other notable occurrences of players' only Test are:
Andy Lloyd scored 10 runs (not out) for England in his only Test against the West Indies, in June 1984, before being struck on the head by a short-pitched delivery from Malcolm Marshall. Although he subsequently recovered from the injury, he never played for his national team again.
Darren Pattinson is an unusual one-Test wonder in that he played a single Test for England, while his brother James Pattinson had a more successful Test career with Australia.
Khalid Hasan played for Pakistan in 1954, and at the age of 16 years 352 days, he is the youngest cricketer to play in just one Test.[21]
Instances of one-Test wonders are reasonably common: about one in eight Test cricketers are picked only once for their country.[1] Occasionally, one-Test wonders have been recalled to Test cricket after a gap of several years. One example was Ryan Sidebottom, who was recalled for his second Test in 2007 after his debut in 2001.[22] Coincidentally his father, Arnie Sidebottom, was a one-Test wonder.[23]
As of May 2007, fourteen one-Test wonders have also played in a single One Day International for their team.[18]
^The 377 One-Test wonders in September 2006 exclude Alan Jones, who played one "Test" for England against a Rest of the World XI in 1970 which was later stripped of Test status, and never played for England again - The uncapped One-Test wonder, Cricinfo, 9 September 2006.
