5 Ashes Debutantes Who Ignited the Ashes Series

Five Ashes debutantes we think gave absolutely smashing performances throughout all the seasons.
Take a look !

Top 5 Ashes Debutantes

1. Kevin Pietersen (Eng)

Perhaps the only English cricketer in the Ashes who was not so ‘English’ in nature. He had the traits of a flamboyant Aussie opener, someone like Gilchrist or Hayden. Yet he could play the grinding knock if the situation arrived. Some say it was because he was not English after all, he was born in South Africa to an English mother, but he always considered it to be an honour to represent the three lions in test matches.

It wasn’t a big century by KP but this particular innings has been included because of the way he fearlessly hammered the Aussie bowlers all around the park. The way he strode out to the crease and played his shots suggested that the boy with the rubbish haircut had something special about him. He scored 57 and 64 – England’s highest score in both innings but it was his unflinching style of play and youthful aggression that stood out. The Englishman is one of the most controversial Ashes debutantes, to the extent that the ECB exiled him

2. Jonathan Trott (Eng)

Prior to this match, Jonathan Trott had represented England in just two T20s against the West Indies where he had a miserable outing, averaging just 5.50. He was relatively unknown back then and the English fans had no idea that he could bat so well in the longest format of the game. In the first innings of the fifth test in 2009, he made an encouraging 41 which was followed by an absolute gem of an innings. Coming in at 39-3, he rescued his team from a precarious position and went on to score an exquisite century. This formed the basis for him to establish himself as one of the pioneers of the English middle order in the coming years. This is why Trott is featured on this list of Ashes debutantes.

3. Graham Thorpe (Eng)

Graham Thorpe, aka ‘Stumpy’, was selected to make his debut in 1993 at Trent Bridge after a string of impressive performances for Surrey in the county championships . He then went on to do what so many middle-order debutantes failed to do when picked for England – score some valuable runs. His innings was very dynamic in nature. He started off slowly but once he was set, he started to play his shots freely. His composed innings of 114 runs helped England save the match on the fifth day. Thorpe was awarded the man of the match for his stellar performance. He is the only one of the Ashes debutantes on this list to be bestowed such an honour.

4. Bob Massie (AUS)

It was the best bowling performance by an Australian on his debut. Massie got the ball to swing in late and the English batsmen had no answer to it. They eventually ended up losing eight wickets to him. In the first innings he took 8-84, then bettered it to take 8-53 second time round. His figures of 16-137 are the second-best figures on debut ever.However his success was short lived as he played only five more Test matches, failing to double the number of wickets he captured in his first Test. Massie’s figures remained the best ever by a debutante for 15 years before an 18-year-old Narendra Hirwani bettered it by a solitary run, picking up 16 for 136 against West Indies at Madras in 1987-88.

5. Clarrie Grimmett (AUS)

Born and brought up in New Zealand, Grimmett migrated to Australia in his early twenties and never looked back. “Grum” as he was affectionately known, was a real master of spin. He used his guile to decieve the batsmen in the air and off the pitch as well. He had plenty of variations in his bowling arsenal, leg breaks, googlies, top-spinners and flippers to bamboozle the batsmen. English batsmen, meekly surrendered in both the innings to the superb spin bowling of Grimmett. In Australia, he was referred to as the “Bradman of Cricket”, and quite rightly so. Sixteen years after his death, Grimmett was posthumously inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 1996 as one of the ten inaugural members.