12 cricketers whose first scoring shot in Test cricket was a six

The dream of every young cricketer is to play Test cricket and once he gets selected in the national team, his ultimate goal is to get off the mark. Be it an opener or a middle order batsman or a tailender, the first run scored in Test cricket is special for everyone.

While most of the cricketers will nudge the ball for a single and open their account in Test cricket, there have been a few cricketers who have started off their Test career with a six.

Here is a look at all the 12 cricketers whose first scoring shot was a six in Test cricket.

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#1 Eric Freeman

Eric Freeman is the first cricketer in the history of Test cricket to open his account with a six. The batting all-rounder made his debut for Australia at Brisbane in 1968 against India and it was in that game that he achieved the rare feat. He hit a six off the very second ball he faced in Test cricket and the bowler was Erapalli Prasanna.

However, Freeman did not achieve much success at the international level and represented Australia in 11 Tests. He averaged 19. 16 with the bat and 33.17 with the ball.

Post-retirement, Freeman worked as a commentator and a statistician with ABC radio in Adelaide. He has also mentored many young boys and helped them to improve their game with his valuable insights about the game of cricket.

#2 Carlisle Best

Carlisle Best is the first cricketer from West Indies to get off the mark in Test cricket by scoring a six

Best made his debut for the West Indies in the year 1986 at Jamaica against England. In the 1908s and the early 1990s, the West Indies were unbeatable and tasted success against all Test playing nations.

The 27-year-old Best was handed his debut cap at Jamaica and after receiving two bouncers from Ian Botham as his first two deliveries in Test cricket, he hooked the third ball he faced and opened his account with a six. It was a rare achievement for Best and the six he hit off Ian Botham will always be remembered by cricket fans in the West Indies.

Best is the first cricketer from the Caribbean to achieve this feat. He went on to play 8 Tests for West Indies and averaged 28.50 and scored one century against England at Barbados in 1990.

Post-retirement, he has worked with a bank.

#3 Keith Dabengwa

Keith Dabengwa is the only cricketer from Zimbabwe to open his account by scoring a six in Test cricket

Keith is the only Zimbabwean to feature in this list. The all-rounder from Zimbabwe made his debut against New Zealand in the year 2005 and after facing 15 balls, he got off the mark in Test cricket by smashing Daniel Vettori for a six. The only Test of the series was played at Bulawayo and Keith managed to score 21 runs in the Test (17 in the first innings and 4 in the second innings). New Zealand thrashed Zimbabwe by an innings and 46 runs.

The all-rounder played 2 more Tests for Zimbabwe against India but failed to impress. He has played 3 Tests and scored 90 runs at an average of 15 and picked up 5 wickets at an average of 49.80..

Dabengwa played last of his 36 ODIs in the year 2010 and since then has been overlooked by the selectors.

He achieved another rare feat of picking up 7 wickets for just 1 run in a Logan Cup match. However, he failed to replicate his domestic performances at the international level.

#4 Dale Richards

Dale Richards is the second cricketer from West Indies to smash a six as his first scoring shot

Richards is the second cricketer from the Caribbean to open his Test account by scoring a six. After toiling hard in domestic cricket, for almost a decade, Richards finally made his debut against Bangladesh at St. Vincent.

The debut was made is unusual circumstances for the cricketer from Barbados as the West Indies first XI went on a protest regarding payment issues. Richards smashed a six off the fourth ball of the very first over off the Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza.

He played 2 more Tests for West Indies and thereafter was never considered for selection.

#5 Shafiul Islam

Shafiul Islam smashed a six off Amit Mishra to get off the mark in Test cricket

Islam smashed the seventh ball he faced in Test cricket for a six an thus opened his account in Test cricket. The match was played against India in the year 2010 and the bowler was Amit Mishra. Shafiul is the first of four Bangladeshi cricketers of achieving this special feat.

Shafiul has been in and out of the Bangladesh team in the recent past and has played his last ODI in the year 2016 and the last Test in 2017.

Shafiul has picked up 17 Test wickets and 63 ODI wickets and is still 28 years of age and will be looking to stage a comeback to the national team.

#6 Jahurul Islam

Batting at number 4 on Test debut against England at Dhaka in the year 2010, Islam was trapped leg before wicket to Swann in the first innings without opening his account.

The second innings saw Jahural scoring 43 runs and his first runs in Test cricket was by scoring a six off Graeme Swann.

Since then Islam has represented Bangladesh in 7 Tests, 14 ODIs and 3 T20s and has lost the faith of the selectors since the year 2013.

#7 Al- Amin Hossain

Al Amin Hossain(L) hit a six off Rangana Herath to get off the mark in Test cricket

Hossain is the third Bangladeshi on the list. Hossain failed to score a run on his Test debut against New Zealand at Dhaka in 2013. However, he opened his account in Test cricket by hitting the Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath for a six in the year 2014. In fact, Hossain opened his account in the second innings too by smashing a six.

Al-Amin Hossain has been in and out of the Bangladesh team due to suspect bowling action, disciplinary issues and poor on-field performances. He played his last Test in 2014 and last ODI in 2015.

#8 Mark Craig

Mark Craig is the only cricketer to hit a six off the very first ball he faced in Test cricket

Mark Craig is the only cricketer in the history of Test cricket to score a six off the very first ball he faced. He achieved this feat against Sulieman Benn at Kingston in the year 2014.

In fact, it was the first ball in international cricket faced by Craig and he smashed a six. Craig went on to pick up 8 wickets in the said Test and was awarded the Man of the Match performance on debut.

The off-spinner from Auckland has a decent record in Test cricket and averages 36.81 with the bat in 25 Test innings and has picked up 50 wickets in Test cricket. However, an indifferent tour of India in 2016 saw the selections gates being shut for Craig and has not played a Test for the Kiwis in the next two years.

#9 Dhananjaya de Silva

Dhananjaya De Silva opened his Test account with a six

De Silva had an impressive debut against the visiting Australian team in the year 2016. He made his debut against Australia at Pallekele and the fifth ball he faced in Test cricket was dispatched for a six and he was off the mark in Test cricket.

De Silva was the highest run scorer in the series and announced his arrival at the international stage.

He is a promising young cricketer and has represented Sri Lanka in 17 Tests and has 4 centuries and 3 half-centuries to his credit in 33 innings.

#10 Kamrul Islam Rabbi

Rabbi is the fourth Bangladeshi to get off the mark by smashing a six

Rabbi was a part of the current Bangladesh team which had toured West Indies. Rabbi is primarily a fast bowler and averages just 5.66 with the bat in 14 Test innings.

Rabbi could not open his account in his first three innings of Test cricket and it was only his 20th ball he faced in Test cricket that was smashed for a six and Rabbi was away in Test cricket. The bowler on the receiving end was Moeen Ali.

#11 Sunil Ambris

Sunil Ambris is the third West Indian to get off the mark by scoring a six

24-year-old Sunil Ambris of the West Indies made his debut against New Zealand in Wellington in the Test series in December 2017. He has the distinction of being the first cricketer to be out hit wicket on the first ball he faced in Test cricket. If that was not enough, he once again in his third Test innings was out hit wicket, making him the first batsman in the history of Test cricket to be out hit wicket twice in his first two Tests.

Another distinction for the young Ambris is that he got off the mark in Test cricket by hitting Trent Boult for a six in Wellington.

Thus Ambris has two unique records to his credit in just 2 Test matches he has played.

#12 Rishabh Pant

Pant is the first Indian to get off the mark in Test cricket by smashing a six

The only Indian to feature on this list is the young aggressive wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant.

Pant who made his debut against England in the ongoing Test at Trent Bridge, smashed the second ball he faced in Test cricket off the leg-spinner Adil Rashid for a six.

The left-handed batsman from Delhi was unbeaten on 22 at the end of the first day of the Test.