4 well-known cricketers who have played only 1 Test match for their country

Every cricket fan in his childhood, who has picked up a bat or bowled a ball has dreamt of playing Test cricket for his country. No wonder why most of the T20 performances are forgotten but test performances have a special place in the hearts of every cricketer as well as cricket fans.

In the modern era, a majority of players make their ODI and T20I debuts before playing test cricket. Rather, they are 'given the test cap' based on their limited-overs performances. Even with the surge in the popularity of T20s, test cricket is still considered the greatest format of the game by the cricket experts.

For the cricketers, it is a 'prestige' to play test cricket which very few have enjoyed. These days, with cricketers willing to commit themselves to the T20 leagues across the globe, there are many of them who have not played the longest format of the game for years.

These players would have been successful in test cricket. Instead, they chose to not give it a chance and focus more on limited-over formats of the game. In this article, we will take a look at 4 players who have played only 1 test match for their country.

Note: Only those players whose lone test match came before January 1, 2014 have been considered here.

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#4 Albie Morkel (Cape Town, 2009)

Albie Morkel, one of the best T20 all-rounders of his times, has appeared in only one test for South Africa against Australia at Cape Town in March 2009. He did not have a great game with the ball as he returned with the match-figures of 1/132. With the bat though, he scored 58 runs in his lone test innings.

Unlike his brother Morne, Albie did not play test cricket for long. His ODI figures from 58 games read 782 runs and 50 wickets. In T20Is he has played 51 games scoring 572 runs and picking 26 wickets.

Morkel was a very popular figure in the IPL for a long time, playing for a number of years for the Chennai Super Kings. With age not on his side, Albie may never play for South Africa again.

#3 Andre Russell (Galle, 2010)

The big man Dre Russ is one of the most popular T20 cricketers across the globe. However, his test career for the Windies has never got going. Russell has played only one test for the West Indies against Sri Lanka at Galle in November 2010, the same test when Chris Gayle got his 333.

In fact, it also happens to be Russell's first appearance for the Windies. He was very expensive with the ball in that particular game returning with match figures of 1/104 from 23 overs. With the bat too, he failed to impress as he could score only 2 runs.

Andre Russell has represented the Windies in 51 ODIs and 44 T20Is. Not been given a central contract, Russell does not play for the Windies regularly now.

#2 James Faulkner (The Oval, 2013)

The Tasmanian all-rounder was a star for Australia in limited-over formats for quite some time. However, he has donned the Baggy Green just once in his career against England at The Oval in August 2013.

Back then, he had a pretty good debut picking 6 wickets in the game and scoring crucial 20s in both innings at a strike rate of 104. Despite his impressive ODI performances, the Australian selectors never considered him in test matches and persisted with an under-performing Shane Watson and a struggling Mitchell Marsh for long.

James Faulkner has represented Australia in 69 One-dayers and 24 T20Is picking 96 and 36 wickets respectively. With Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins and Mitchell Marsh around, it looks like Faulkner will not don the whites again anytime soon.

#1 R Vinay Kumar (Perth, 2012)

The Karnataka pacer made his lone appearance for India in test cricket in January 2012 against Australia at Perth. He bowled 13 overs in that game conceding 73 runs at an expensive economy rate of 5.62 and picked only 1 wicket, that of Michael Hussey.

After that, Vinay has never been in the scheme of things in test cricket again. He has often been criticized for leaking runs, thereby releasing the pressure created by the other bowlers. Vinay has played 31 ODIs and 9 T20Is picking 38 and 10 wickets respectively. His last appearance for India came in November 2013.

With India having a robust pace attack in test cricket now, consisting of Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vinay is unlikely to represent India again in tests.

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