List of bowlers who have taken a wicket with their first ball in a format of international cricket

Tom Horan was the first bowler to take a wicket with his very first delivery in Test cricket.^[1]

Fifty-nine bowlers have taken a wicket with the very first ball they bowled in one of the three formats of international cricket. Twenty bowlers have performed this feat in Test cricket. The first was Australian Tom Horan, who dismissed Walter Read with his first ball on 26 January 1883, and the most recent is South African bowler Hardus Viljoen who dismissed the England captain Alastair Cook on 15 January 2016. Seven of these twenty bowlers have been English cricketers.^[1] However, this accomplishment has not always led to a long and illustrious career.^[2] Only Maurice Tate, Intikhab Alam and Nathan Lyon went on to play in more than ten Tests.^[3][4][5] Arthur Coningham, Matt Henderson, Dennis Smith, and Tyrell Johnson were One-Test wonders, and Smith's only Test wicket was the one he took with his first ball.^[6][7][8][9]

In One Day International (ODI) matches, twenty-four bowlers have taken a wicket with their first ball. The first to accomplish this was English bowler Geoff Arnold, who bowled Graeme Watson on 24 August 1972. The most recent is Mosaddek Hossain, from Bangladesh, who struck with his debut delivery on 28 September 2016.^[10] Not all of these bowlers took their first wicket in their debut match. Clive Lloyd, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Sadagoppan Ramesh, and Martin van Jaarsveld did not bowl in their debut matches, and took their first wicket on a later appearance.^{[11][12][13][14]} Ramesh and Wavell Hinds took their first wickets during the same match on 6 September 1999; the former in the first innings of the match and the latter in the second.^[15] It was also the only wicket taken by Ramesh during his ODI career.^[16]

In Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket, fourteen bowlers have taken a wicket with their first ball. The first to achieve this feat was Australian Michael Kasprowicz who took wickets with his first and second delivery in this format on 17 May 2005, dismissing New Zealand's Stephen Fleming and Mathew Sinclair.^[17] Hong Kong's Nadeem Ahmed and Nepal's Paras Khadka took their first wickets during the same match on 16 March 2014; the former in the first innings of the match and the latter in the second.^[18] The most recent, on 3 January 2017, is Lockie Ferguson of New Zealand, who became the second bowler to achieve the feat of two T20I wickets in his first two deliveries by dismissing Sabbir Rahman and Soumya Sarkar of Bangladesh.^[19]

Inzamam-ul-Haq, who took a wicket with his first ODI delivery

Key

Wicket with first ball in Test career

No.	Bowler	Date	Venue	For	Against	Batsman	Dismissal	Ref(s)
1	Tom Horan	26 January 1883	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	Australia	England	Walter Read	bowled	[20][21]
2	Arthur Coningham	29 December 1894	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	Australia	England	Archie MacLaren	c Harry Trott	[22]
3	Bill Bradley	17 July 1899	Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester	England	Australia	Frank Laver	c Dick Lilley	[23]
4	Ted Arnold	11 December 1903	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	England	Australia	Victor Trumper	c Dick Lilley	[24]
5	Bert Vogler	2 January 19061	Old Wanderers, Johannesburg	South Africa	England	Ernie Hayes	caught & bowled	[25]
6	Jack Crawford	2 January 19062	Old Wanderers, Johannesburg	England	South Africa	Bert Volger	bowled	[25]
7	George Macaulay	1 January 1923	Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town	England	South Africa	George Hearne	c Percy Fender	[26]
8	Maurice Tate	16 June 1924	Edgbaston Stadium, Birmingham	England	South Africa	Fred Susskind	bowled	[27]
9	Matt Henderson	10 January 1930	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	New Zealand	England	Eddie Dawson	c Tom Lowry	[28]
10	Dennis Smith	24 March 1933	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	New Zealand	England	Eddie Paynter	bowled	[29]
11	Tyrell Johnson	19 August 1939	The Oval, London	West Indies	England	Walter Keeton	bowled	[30]
12	Dick Howorth	18 August 1947	The Oval, London	England	South Africa	Dennis Dyer	c Cliff Gladwin	[31]
13	Intikhab Alam	5 December 1959	National Stadium, Karachi	Pakistan	Australia	Colin McDonald	bowled	[32]
14	Richard Illingworth	5 July 1991	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	England	West Indies	Phil Simons	bowled	[33]
15	Nilesh Kulkarni	3 August 1997	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo	India	Sri Lanka	Marvan Atapattu	c Nayan Mongia	[34]
16	Chamila Gamage	29 July 2002	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo	Sri Lanka	Bangladesh	Mohammad Ashraful	bowled	[35]
17	Nathan Lyon	1 September 2011	Galle International Stadium, Galle	Australia	Sri Lanka	Kumar Sangakkara	c Michael Clarke	[36]
18	Shaminda Eranga	16 September 2011	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo	Sri Lanka	Australia	Shane Watson	c Tillakaratne Dilshan	[37]
19	Dane Piedt	9 August 2014	Harare Sports Club, Harare	South Africa	Zimbabwe	Mark Vermeulen	lbw	[38]
20	Hardus Viljoen	15 January 2016	Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg	South Africa	England	Alastair Cook	c Dane Vilas	[39]
Source: ESPNcricinfo. Last updated: 24 May 2016.

Wicket with first ball in ODI career

No	Bowler	Date	Venue	For	Against	Batsman	Dismissal	Ref.
1	Geoff Arnold	24 August 1972	Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester	England	Australia	Graeme Watson	bowled	[40]
2	Clive Lloyd	7 August 1973	The Oval, London	West Indies	England	Andrew Smith	bowled	[41]
3	Shahid Mehboob	31 December 1982	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore	Pakistan	India	Kris Srikkanth	c Zaheer Abbas	[42]
4	Shane Thomson	1 March 1990	Carisbrook, Dunedin	New Zealand	India	Mohammad Azharuddin	c Mark Greatbatch	[43]
5	Inzamam-ul-Haq	24 November 1991	Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad	Pakistan	West Indies	Brian Lara	c Moin Khan	[44]
6	Everton Matambanadzo	3 November 1996	Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar	Zimbabwe	Pakistan	Shahid Afridi	c John Rennie	[45]
7	Sadagoppan Ramesh	6 September 19991	Kallang Ground, Singapore	India	West Indies	Nixon McLean	c Debasis Mohanty	[15]
8	Wavell Hinds	6 September 19992	Kallang Ground, Singapore	West Indies	India	Mannava Prasad	c Nehemiah Perry	[15]
9	Josephat Ababu	25 September 1999	Gymkhana Club Ground, Nairobi	Kenya	Zimbabwe	Neil Johnson	bowled	[46]
10	Charitha Buddhika	26 October 2001	Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah	Sri Lanka	Zimbabwe	Dougie Marillier	lbw	[47]
11	Martin van Jaarsveld	9 October 2002	De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley	South Africa	Bangladesh	Talha Jubair	bowled	[48]
12	Monde Zondeki	6 December 2002	Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein	South Africa	Sri Lanka	Marvan Atapattu	c Andrew Hall	[49]
13	Kaushal Lokuarachchi	6 April 2003	Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah	Sri Lanka	Kenya	Steve Tikolo	c Avishka Gunawardene	[50]
14	Rikki Clarke	17 June 2003	Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester	England	Pakistan	Imran Nazir	c Vikram solanki	[51]
15	Fidel Edwards	29 November 2003	Harare Sports Club, Harare	West Indies	Zimbabwe	Barney Rogers	bowled	[52]
16	Kevin O'Brien	13 June 2006	Civil Service Cricket Ground, Stormont, Belfast	Ireland	England	Andrew Strauss	c Andre Botha	[53]
17	Elijah Otieno	18 October 2007	Gymkhana Club Ground, Nairobi	Kenya	Canada	Mohammad Iqbal	c Morris Ouma	[54]
18	Thilan Thushara	15 April 2008	Beausejour Stadium, Saint Lucia	Sri Lanka	West Indies	Runako Morton	c Kumar Sangakkara	[55]
19	Parth Desai	13 April 2010	Sabina Park, Jamaica	Canada	West Indies	Andre Fletcher	c Rizwan Cheema	[56]
20	Bhuvneshwar Kumar	30 December 2012	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai	India	Pakistan	Mohammad Hafeez	bowled	[57]
21	Kenneth Kamyuka	13 October 2013	Maple Leaf Cricket Club, King City, Ontario	Canada	Netherlands	Daan van Bunge	bowled	[58]
22	Andrew Mathieson	20 June 2015	Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street	New Zealand	England	Jason Roy	c Martin Guptill	[59]
23	Ehsan Khan	8 September 2016	The Grange Club, Edinburgh	Hong Kong	Scotland	Craig Wallace	lbw	[60]
24	Mosaddek Hossain	28 September 2016	Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur	Bangladesh	Afghanistan	Hashmatullah Shahidi	lbw	[61]
Source: ESPNcricinfo. Last updated: 28 September 2016.

Wicket with first ball in T20I career

No	Bowler	Date	Venue	For	Against	Batsman	Dismissal	Ref(s)
1	Michael Kasprowicz	17 May 2005	Eden Park, Auckland	Australia	New Zealand	Stephen Fleming	bowled	[62]
2	Ajit Agarkar	1 December 2006	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg	India	South Africa	Herschelle Gibbs	c Suresh Raina	[63]
3	Alfonso Thomas	2 February 2007	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg	South Africa	Pakistan	Imran Nazir	c AB de Villiers	[64]
4	Shaun Tait	11 December 2007	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore	Australia	New Zealand	Jamie How	c Adam Gilchrist	[65]
5	Rory Kleinveldt	5 November 2008	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg	South Africa	Bangladesh	Junaid Siddique	c AB de Villiers	[66]
6	Joe Denly	15 November 2009	SuperSport Park, Centurion	England	South Africa	Graeme Smith	c Sajid Mahmood	[67][68]
7	Pragyan Ojha	24 November 2009	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	India	Bangladesh	Shakib Al Hasan	c Mahendra Singh Dhoni	[69]
8	Virat Kohli[n 1]	31 August 2011	Old Trafford, Manchester	India	England	Kevin Pietersen	st Mahendra Singh Dhoni	[70]
9	Nadeem Ahmed	16 March 20141	Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong	Hong Kong	Nepal	Subash Khakurel	c Aizaz Khan	[18]
10	Paras Khadka	16 March 20142	Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong	Nepal	Hong Kong	Irfan Ahmed	c Subash Khakurel	[18]
11	Willie Gavera	15 July 2015	Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont, Belfast	Papua New Guinea	Ireland	Niall O'Brien	bowled	[71]
12	Ajay Lalcheta	21 November 2015	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi	Oman	Hong Kong	Nizakat Khan	bowled	[72]
13	Aamer Yamin	30 November 2015	Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah	Pakistan	England	Jason Roy	lbw	[73]
14	Lockie Ferguson	3 January 2017	McLean Park, Napier	New Zealand	Bangladesh	Sabbir Rahman	c Matt Henry	[74]
15	Lakshan Sandakan	22 January 2017	Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg	Sri Lanka	South Africa	Mangaliso Mosehle	c Chandimal	[75]
Source: ESPNcricinfo. Last updated: 3 January 2017.

Wicket with first ball in women's T20I career

No	Bowler[76]	Date	Venue	For	Against	Batsman	Dismissal	Ref(s)
1	Chloe Tryon	10 May 2010	Warner Park, Basseterre	South Africa	West Indies	Stafanie Taylor	c Smith	[77]

Notes

References

External links

• "Test Wicket with First Ball". CricketArchive.