cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, a one-Test wonder is usually a

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

who is only selected for one Test match during his career and never represents his country again. This is not necessarily due to a poor performance and can be for numerous reasons, such as injury or strong competition from other players. The term is also used in rugby. 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

Narendra Hirwani Narendra Deepchand Hirwani (born 18 October 1968) is a leg spin bowler who played for India. He is mainly remembered for his success on his Test debut. He was a part of the Indian squad which won the 1988 Asia Cup. Early days Hirwani came ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and Bob Massie of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, both of whom took eight wickets in each innings of their debut matches, but then failed to live up to their early promise. Spin bowler

Ashton Agar Ashton Charles Agar (born 14 October 1993) is an Australian cricketer who plays all forms of the game at international level. Agar plays domestically for Western Australia and the Perth Scorchers. A left-handed spin bowler and capable lower-orde ...

of Australia played just 5 tests, taking 9 wickets, but his most notable contribution was in his first test and with the bat as he scored 98 on debut as the final Australian batsman, breaking multiple records including being the first test player to score a half-century as a number eleven batsman on debut and the highest score by any number eleven batsman.

Notable examples

As of June 2023, there have been 466 players who have only played one Test match. Some of the best performances by these players are: * Andy Ganteaume, who scored 112 for the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

in his only Test innings in 1948, and so has one of the highest Test batting averages of all time. *

Rodney Redmond __NOTOC__ Rodney Ernest Redmond (born 29 December 1944) is a New Zealand former international cricketer. He is the father of Aaron Redmond, also a New Zealand international. International career Redmond scored a century and a fifty in his onl ...

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 New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in 1973. * West Indian Vic Stollmeyer, brother of

Jeff Stollmeyer Jeffrey Baxter Stollmeyer (11 March 1921 – 10 September 1989) was a Trinidad and Tobago cricketer who played as an opening batsman. He played 32 Test matches for the West Indies, captaining 13 of these. He was also a senator. Early life Stol ...

, scored 96 in his only Test in 1939. * Mick Malone took

five wickets in an innings In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Taking ...

and scored 46 in his only Test for Australia in 1977, leaving him with a bowling average of 12.83 and a batting average of 46, before joining

World Series Cricket World Series Cricket (WSC) was a commercial professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 which was organised by Kerry Packer and his Australian television network, Nine Network. WSC ran in commercial competition to established ...

. *

Stuart Law Stuart Grant Law (born 18 October 1968) is an Australian-born cricket coach and former cricketer. He is the current head coach of Nepal National Cricket Team. He was a part of the Australian squad which finished as runners-up at the 1996 Crick ...

scored 54 not out in his only Test innings for

in 1995, leaving him without a Test average as he was not required to bat in the second innings. *

Gobo Ashley William Hare "Gobo" Ashley (10 February 1862 – 14 July 1930) was a South African cricketer who played in one Test in 1889, the second Test ever played by his country. A left-arm medium-paced bowler, Ashley took 7 for 95 in the only Test inn ...

took 7 for 95 for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in the only opposition innings of his single Test in 1889. *

Charles Marriott Charles Stowell "Father" Marriott (14 September 1895 – 13 October 1966) was an English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Lancashire, Cambridge University and Kent. Marriott played between 1919 and 1938 and was considered one of th ...

recorded match figures of 11 for 96 (5 for 37 and 6 for 59) in his only Test for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1933. No other bowler has taken more than ten wickets in his only Test. * Among wicket-keepers, Indian player Rajindernath made four stumpings in his only Test in 1952, but was not called on to bat. Other notable occurrences of players' only Test are: *

Ed Joyce Edmund Christopher Joyce (born 22 September 1978) is an Irish cricket coach and former cricketer who played for both the Ireland and England national cricket teams. After beginning his career with Middlesex, he moved to Sussex in 2009, before re ...

played in Ireland's first Test match in May 2018, and announced his retirement from all cricket one week later. * Andy Lloyd scored 10 runs (not out) for

in his only Test against the

, in June 1984, before being struck on the head by a short-pitched delivery from

Malcolm Marshall Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is widely regarded as one of the greatest and one of the most accomplished fast bowlers of the modern era in Test cricket ...

. Although he subsequently recovered from the injury, he never played for his national team again. * Darren Pattinson is an unusual one-Test wonder in that he played a single Test for England, while his brother

James Pattinson James Lee Pattinson (born 3 May 1990) is an Australian cricketer. Pattinson is considered an aggressive fast bowler. After making his Test cricket debut in late 2011, he played Test and limited overs cricket for the Australia national cricket t ...

had a more successful Test career with Australia. * Khalid Hasan played for Pakistan in 1954, and at the age of 16 years 352 days, he is the youngest cricketer to play in just one Test. Instances of one-Test wonders are reasonably common: about one in eight Test cricketers are picked only once for their country. Occasionally, one-Test wonders have been recalled to Test cricket after a gap of several years. One example was

Ryan Sidebottom Ryan Jay Sidebottom (born 15 January 1978) is a former England international cricketer who played domestic cricket for Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire and retired in 2017, after taking more than 1,000 career wickets. He is the only player in the ...

, who was recalled for his second Test in 2007 after his debut in 2001. Coincidentally his father,

Arnie Sidebottom Arnold Sidebottom (born 1 April 1954) is an English former footballer and cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and played one Test match for England. Football Sidebottom was born in Shawlands, Barnsley, Yorkshire, and started off as a ...

, was a one-Test wonder. As of May 2007, fourteen one-Test wonders have also played in a single

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

for their team.One-match wonders, and Shah's second chance

Cricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

, 16 May 2007

References

External links

Ultimate One-Test wonder

, 31 December 2005 * “One Test Wonders” podcast series with Brian Murgatroyd. Interviews with several of those lucky enough to gain a Test cap: * https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/one-test-wonders/id1577581465 Test cricket {{cricket-term-stub