One-Test wonder

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 (not necessarily due to poor performance).^[1][2][3] The term may derive from "one-hit wonder", which is used to describe singers who have only one hit song. 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 India's Narendra Hirwani,^[5] and Australia's Bob Massie,^[6] both of whom took eight wickets in each innings of their debut matches, but then failed to live up to their early promise.

Notable examples

As of September 2006, there had been 377 players who have only played one Test match.^[7] 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 the highest Test batting average of all time.^[8]
• Rodney Redmond is the only other player to have scored a century in his only Test, scoring 107 and 56 while opening the batting for New Zealand in 1973.^[9]
• West Indian Vic Stollmeyer, brother of Jeff Stollmeyer, scored 96 in his only Test.^[10]
• Stuart Law scored 54 not out in his only Test innings for Australia, leaving him without a Test average.^[11]
• Gobo Ashley took 7 for 95 for South Africa in the first innings of his single Test in 1889.^[12]
• Charles Marriott recorded match figures of 11 for 96 (5 for 37 and 6 for 59) in his only Test for England in 1933.^[13][14] No other bowler has taken more than ten wickets in his only Test.^[15]
• Among wicket-keepers, Indian player Rajindernath made four stumpings in his only Test, but was not called on to bat.^[16]
• Ed Joyce played in Ireland's first Test match in May 2018, and announced his retirement from all cricket one week later.^[17]

About one in eight Test cricketers are only picked once.^[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.^[18] Coincidentally his father, Arnie Sidebottom, was a one-Test wonder.^[19]

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.

As of May 2007, fourteen one-Test wonders have also played in a single One Day International for their team.^[15]

References

External links

• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
• Ultimate One-Test wonder, Cricinfo, December 31, 2005