Mashrafe Mortaza was the pioneer among these 8 rare players whose Test debut was also their first-class debut
According to records, thirty-seven players made their first-class debut in a Test cricket match.
Twenty-seven of those players played their maiden red-ball match in the 19th century, while two did so in the 20th, and the other eight did so in the 21st century.
Below, we list the 10 who made their debuts in the 21st century.
1. Mashrafe Mortaza, November 2001
Mortaza made a triumphant entry into first-class cricket. He dismissed Grant Flower, Stuart Carlisle, Heath Streak, and Brian Murphy to finish his maiden Test bowling innings with 4/106. They are figures one would expect from a seasoned red-ball campaigner.
However, Mortaza didn’t have professional experience; he had neither red-ball nor white-ball cricket experience. A few months before his Test debut, Mortaza was a 17-year-old rural boy participating in a regional under-17 tournament.
He caught the eye of everyone present, including the West Indies star, Andy Roberts, who invited him to a camp immediately afterwards.
The camp was the beginning of Mortaza’s fast-tracking process, which culminated in him taking the new ball against Zimbabwe in November 2001.
2. Yasir Ali, September 2003
Pakistan cricket has a single constant: they produce seamers at the rate of knots, and when they fast-track them, it’s not out of desperation. Yasir Ali fits the profile. He was 17, his easy-on-the-eye action and wicket-taking ability caught the attention of scouts and selectors, who got him into the national academy immediately.
Habibul Bashar was Yasir Ali’s first victim in Test cricket. It was the only wicket he bagged in the innings, but it calmed his nerves and helped him settle into the game. Yasir Ali bowled 20 overs in the match, conceded 55 runs and took two wickets. However, that was also his final Test.
3. Nazmul Hossain, December 2004
Debut wickets do not get any bigger than Gautam Gambhir; however, that was the end of the fairytale for the seamer. He bowled 25.5 overs in his maiden Test and conceded 114 runs at a rate of 4.41 runs an over. It was the second-worst economy in the match after Talha Jubair, who went at five runs an over.
Hossain cut his teeth in tour matches as a member of Bangladesh’s development sides as a 16-year-old. The limited-overs matches against England, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan’s representative sides prepared him for the 2003 u19 World Cup. The ICC event was the springboard for him into the national team.
4. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, June 2018
Mujeeb comes from a cricketing family. He is the nephew of Noor Ali Zadran, who has represented Afghanistan in all three formats. Zadran is also an uncle to Ibrahim Zadran, another Afghanistan international.
Mujeeb came into prominence in 2017 when he dismantled the Bangladesh u19 side with his spin in 2017. Afghanistan produces spinners by the boatload, and Mujeeb was one of the quality tweakers to come off the assembly line.
A year after his performance, Afghanistan saw his potential and fast-tracked him into the Test side in 2018.
However, his debut was not a successful one; besides dismissing Cheteshwar Pujara, nothing else went right. He conceded 75 runs in 15 overs for an economy of five runs an over.
5. Ben White, April 2023
Ireland doesn’t have many spin options, and when Ben White appeared on the senior scene, Ireland felt that they had found someone who could fill the void. White had proven himself through years of performing in Ireland’s domestic scene from the time he was 14.
White made his white ball debut in 2021, and his returns in ODI and T20 cricket gave the Irish selectors confidence to pick him for the Test side in 2023. However, despite finishing his maiden Test with 4/114, his wickets came at an expensive 5.7 runs an over.
6. Matthew Humphreys, April 2023
Humphreys perfected his craft as a left-arm orthodox spinner in T20 cricket. He had four matches for the Instonians’ senior team before he made his 50-over match for the same team, at 17.
Two years later, Humphreys was selected for the Ireland u19 World Cup squad that participated in the 2021 edition in the West Indies, where he took 11 wickets in six matches.
He made his Test debut two years after he played for Ireland in T20s and ODIs. He finished his maiden Test match, against Sri Lanka, wicketless. He conceded 67 runs in 10 overs.
7. Newman Nyamhuri, December 2024
Newman Nyamhuri was one of the players Zimbabwe Cricket had its eye on. They selected him for the u25 side that went up against Uganda in November 2023. He was 17 at the time. A year later, Nyamhuri was Zimbabwe’s leading wicket-taker, with eight scalps, at the u19 World Cup.
Nyamhuri made his 50-over debut in Zimbabwe’s provincial tournament in October 2024. The pacer took five wickets in two outings and contributed to Southern Rocks’ back-to-back wins.
His performance there earned him an ODI call-up, which was followed up by a Test debut shortly after. Nyamhuri finished his maiden Test match with a single wicket for 82 runs in 23 overs.
8. AM Ghazanfar, December 2024
Ghazanfar is one of the many quality spinners that come from Afghanistan’s assembly line. The right-arm off-break bowler made his name as a 16-year-old in Afghanistan’s premier T20 tournament, the Shpageeza tournament.
Ghazanfar took five wickets in three outings at a decent economy rate. He graduated to 50-over cricket the next year, in 2023.
Ghazanfar was one of Afghanistan’s top performers at the 2024 u19 World Cup with eight wickets at an average of 16.75. The mystery spinner continued his great form and made his ODI debut in 2024.
He boasts 21 wickets in 11 matches at an average of 13.57. Afghanistan, impressed by Ghazanfar’s performances in 50-over cricket, gave him his Test debut in December 2024.
The spinner took 3/127 in his first innings and took another one in the third innings, and he finished the match with 4/161 at an economy of 4.43. The contest was against Zimbabwe, and it ended in a draw.
Read next: Did Chris Gayle get named in this West Indies’ best Test XI of the past 40 years?