Lives in Cricket No 23 - Brief Candles

93 Chapter Six First Ballers, and a Mystery Not every bowler begins with a wide to second slip. It must be every debutant bowler’s dream to settle their nerves by taking a wicket with the very first ball they bowl. In first-class cricket, over 100 cricketers have done so, including such later-famous names as Colin Blythe, Bill Alley and Paul Collingwood. They have had some famous victims too – indeed, Geoffrey Boycott and Mark Taylor were both out twice to an opponent’s first-ever first-class delivery. 157 Some of the bowlers may have been a little fortunate in the way their secured their first-ball wickets: for example, both D.H.Mitchell (Transvaal, 1954/55) and S.Srivastava (Delhi, 1984/85) did so by means of a ‘hit-wicket’ dismissal. But all must have hoped that, after such a good start, they had earned a run in the side, to have the chance to show whether their early success was just a flash in the pan, or something rather more. So it comes as a surprise to find that at least eight of those achieving this feat never played another first-class match. Wicket with first ball in only first-class match F.W.Wingrove Victoria v Australian XI Melbourne 1885/86 2-58, dnb J.Johns Glamorgan v Somerset Cardiff 1922 2-29, 0-33 F.Buttner OFS v Western Province Cape Town 1923/24 4-56, 1-56 J.Lee Leicestershire v Glamorgan Cardiff 1947 1-13, dnb K.R.Flint Tasmania v MCC Launceston 1965/66 3-133, 3-93 R.L.Biffin Tasmania v Indians Hobart 1967/68 2-5, 0-16 Fawad Usman Pakistan Universities v United Bank Peshawar 1978/79 1-11, 0-24 H.Harry Punjab v Baroda Vadodara 1998/99 1-8 I say ‘at least eight’, because there is another name absent from that list, which perhaps should – and perhaps shouldn’t – be added to it. This chapter is, mostly, his story. It is, as we will see, a story involving a deal of uncertainty. 157 Boycott to A.R.Frost (South Australia, 1965/66) and C.Lethbridge (Warwickshire, 1981), and Taylor to A.L.Penberthy (Northamptonshire, 1989) and P.T.McPhee (Tasmania, 1989/90). Boycott was one of three members of the MCC team in Australia in 1965/66 to fall victim to an opponent’s first first-class delivery.