This question had always bothered me, but I decided to write about it on the birthday of Xenophon ‘Xen’ Balaskas, the first international cricketer whose name started with X. While that bit is known (thanks to a serious dearth of names beginning with X — how I wish there was a Xerxes!), but what about other letters? We all know Charles Bannerman played the first Test and all that, which solves the problem for C, but what about A or P, or any other letter? Was X the last letter of the alphabet to make an entry when it comes to first names? This certainly merited investigation…
The first Test, of course, accounted for a lot of names. In fact, there were 5 men whose names started with J: three Johns (‘Jack’ Blackham, Hodges, and Selby) and two James’s (Lillywhite Jr and Southerton), while the T-brigade consisted of an army of 5 Toms — Garrett, Horan, Kendall, Armitage, and Emmett. There were also three A’s, but there is a table for the other letters.
Of course, 22 men could not have taken care of 26 letters (what with all these repetitions), so I had to move on to the next Test — but before that, let me state the condition I had set: I took into consideration only the full names. So, even if Lord Harris appeared under that name on scorecards I went with George Robert Canning Harris. The same adjustment happened with nicknames, which meant that Ned Gregory was registered as Edward Gregory on the list.
The 1870s took care of all the common letters. Ivo Bligh solved a major concern in 1882, as did Owen Dunell in 1889. I pondered with KS (Kumar Shri) Ranjitsinhji for a while: while he is KS on all scorecards, he was really born Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji (Ranjitsinhji, actually, but that is a long story, and this article is really not the best place for that), and ended up being His Highness Jam Saheb Shri Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji of Nawanagar, with a detour of Kumar Shri.
So K had to wait till Kenneth Hutchings in 1907. Two South Africans — Quintin McMillan and Xen Balaskas (to whom this article is dedicated) — solved two major problems in 1929 and 1930 respectively, but unfortunately that was not the end of that. I was still left with U, Y, and Z.
Yuvraj of Patiala came to my rescue in 1934. While Yuvraj is also a title, his real name was Yadavindrasingh, which takes care of the scenario. Trust the royal family to come up with something as foolproof as that!
Z took surprisingly long — till 1952, in fact — when Zulfiqar Ahmed came along, but I was still left with U, easily the dark horse of the lot. Little did the Indian selectors know what they did for cricket fraternity when they handed out Umesh Kulkarni his Test cap in 1967…
Letters of the English alphabet and first Test cricketers whose name started with the letters
Letter
|
Name
|
Country
|
Debut date
|
A
|
Andrew Greenwood
|
England
|
March 15, 1877
|
Allen Hill
|
England
|
March 15, 1877
|
Alfred Shaw
|
England
|
March 15, 1877
|
B
|
Bransby Cooper
|
Australia
|
March 15, 1877
|
C
|
Charles Bannerman
|
Australia
|
March 15, 1877
|
D
|
Dave Gregory
|
Australia
|
March 15, 1877
|
E
|
Edward ‘Ned’ Gregory
|
Australia
|
March 15, 1877
|
F
|
Fred Spofforth
|
Australia
|
March 31, 1877
|
G
|
George Ulyett
|
England
|
March 15, 1877
|
H
|
Harry Charlwood
|
England
|
March 15, 1877
|
Harry Jupp
|
England
|
March 15, 1877
|
I
|
Ivo Bligh
|
England
|
December 30, 1882
|
J
|
John ‘Jack’ Blackham
|
Australia
|
March 15, 1877
|
John Hodges
|
Australia
|
March 15, 1877
|
James Lillywhite Jr
|
England
|
March 15, 1877
|
John Selby
|
England
|
March 15, 1877
|
James Southerton
|
England
|
March 15, 1877
|
K
|
Kenneth Hutchings
|
England
|
December 13, 1907
|
L
|
Leland Hone
|
England
|
January 2, 1879
|
M
|
Mordecai Sherwin
|
England
|
January 28, 1887
|
N
|
Nat Thomson
|
Australia
|
March 15, 1877
|
O
|
Owen Dunell
|
South Africa
|
March 12, 1889
|
P
|
Percy McDonnell
|
Australia
|
September 6, 1880
|
Q
|
Quintin McMillan
|
South Africa
|
June 19, 1929
|
R
|
Richard ‘Dick’ Barlow
|
England
|
December 31, 1881
|
Richard ‘Dick’ Pilling
|
England
|
December 31, 1881
|
S
|
Sandford Schultz
|
England
|
January 2, 1879
|
T
|
Tom Garrett
|
Australia
|
March 15, 1877
|
Tom Horan
|
Australia
|
March 15, 1877
|
Tom Kendall
|
Australia
|
March 15, 1877
|
Tom Armitage
|
England
|
March 15, 1877
|
Tom Emmett
|
England
|
March 15, 1877
|
U
|
Umesh Kulkarni
|
India
|
December 23, 1967
|
V
|
Vernon Royle
|
England
|
January 2, 1879
|
W
|
William ‘Billy’ Midwinter
|
Australia
|
March 15, 1877
|
X
|
Xen Balaskas
|
South Africa
|
December 24, 1930
|
Y
|
Yadavindrasingh
|
India
|
February 10, 1934
|
Z
|
Zulfiqar Ahmed
|
Pakistan
|
October 23, 1952
|
This meant that the set was complete by the time the first ODI was played. Of course, this was a temptation for me to work on the corresponding ODI list as well. In fact, I had compiled this before, but I had never actually had an online version.
As expected, the first ODI took care of a chunk, but I was still left with some. Thankfully, most were taken care of by the time the first World Cup came along. ICC’s decision to include East Africa meant that Yunus Badat and Zulfiqar Ali filled up two slots, but I was still left with O, Q, and X.
The 1970s went by. Qasim Umar came to my aid in 1973 and Omar Henry in 1992, but what about X? One series went by as I waited for a Xerxes (or Xerox or X-Ray or whatever, even Xylophone or Xenophobia) to turn up…
Then my messiah turned up as late as in 2005 — in the form of Xavier Marshall.
Letters of the English alphabet and first ODI cricketers whose name started with the letters
Letter
|
Name
|
Country
|
Debut date
|
A
|
Alan Connolly
|
Australia
|
January 5, 1971
|
Ashley Mallett
|
Australia
|
January 5, 1971
|
Alan Thomson
|
Australia
|
January 5, 1971
|
Alan Knott
|
England
|
January 5, 1971
|
B
|
Basil D’Oliveira
|
England
|
January 5, 1971
|
C
|
Chris Old
|
England
|
September 5, 1973
|
D
|
Dennis Amiss
|
England
|
August 24, 1972
|
Dennis Brian Close
|
England
|
August 24, 1972
|
E
|
Eknath Solkar
|
India
|
July 13, 1974
|
F
|
Frank Hayes
|
England
|
July 18, 1973
|
G
|
Greg Chappell
|
Australia
|
January 5, 1971
|
Graham McKenzie
|
Australia
|
January 5, 1971
|
Geoff Boycott
|
England
|
January 5, 1971
|
H
|
Hedley Howarth
|
New Zealand
|
February 11, 1973
|
I
|
Ian Chappell
|
Australia
|
January 5, 1971
|
Ian Redpath
|
Australia
|
January 5, 1971
|
J
|
John Edrich
|
England
|
January 5, 1971
|
John Hampshire
|
England
|
January 5, 1971
|
John Snow
|
England
|
January 5, 1971
|
K
|
Keith Stackpole
|
Australia
|
January 5, 1971
|
Kevin Doug Walters
|
Australia
|
January 5, 1971
|
Keith Fletcher
|
England
|
January 5, 1971
|
Ken Shuttleworth
|
England
|
January 5, 1971
|
L
|
Lance Gibbs
|
West Indies
|
September 5, 1973
|
M
|
Michael Colin Cowdrey
|
England
|
January 5, 1971
|
N
|
Nasim-ul-Ghani
|
Pakistan
|
February 11, 1973
|
O
|
Omar Henry
|
South Africa
|
March 2, 1992
|
P
|
Peter Lever
|
England
|
January 5, 1971
|
Q
|
Qasim Umar
|
Pakistan
|
September 10, 1983
|
R
|
Rod Marsh
|
Australia
|
January 5, 1971
|
Ray Illingworth
|
England
|
January 5, 1971
|
S
|
Sadiq Mohammad
|
Pakistan
|
February 11, 1973
|
Saleem Altaf
|
Pakistan
|
February 11, 1973
|
Sarfraz Nawaz
|
Pakistan
|
February 11, 1973
|
T
|
Terry Jenner
|
Australia
|
January 1, 1975
|
U
|
Upul Chandika Hathurusingha
|
Sri Lanka
|
February 22, 1991
|
V
|
Vic Pollard
|
New Zealand
|
July 18, 1973
|
W
|
William ‘Bill’ Lawry
|
Australia
|
January 5, 1971
|
X
|
Xavier Marshall
|
West Indies
|
January 14, 2005
|
Y
|
Yunus Badat
|
East Africa
|
June 11, 1975
|
Z
|
Zulfiqar Ali
|
East Africa
|
June 7, 1975
|
Marshall made his ODI debut just over a month before the first T20I. This, of course, compelled me to compile a similar list for T20Is.
Letters of the English alphabet and first T20I cricketers whose name started with the letters
The world of T20I cricket is more diverse, which is why the letters were taken care of quickly. Help came from all corners — Ed Joyce, Farhad Reza, Nathan Astle and Nicky Boje, Owais Shah, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Umar Gul, Younis Khan, Zaheer Khan…
By the time the first World T20 started I was left with only Q and X. Xavier Marshall came to my rescue again, in 2008, making him the first to achieve this ‘feat’ in multiple formats. It would not have mattered, for Xavier Doherty arrived shortly afterwards.
But the days of Quintin McMillan and Qasim Umar were gone. It was not until the second decade, that too, in 2012 — that Quinton de Kock came along.
Letter
|
Name
|
Country
|
Debut date
|
A
|
Adam Gilchrist
|
Australia
|
February 17, 2005
|
Andrew Symonds
|
Australia
|
February 17, 2005
|
Andre Adams
|
New Zealand
|
February 17, 2005
|
B
|
Brett Lee
|
Australia
|
February 17, 2005
|
Brendon McCullum
|
New Zealand
|
February 17, 2005
|
C
|
Chris Cairns
|
New Zealand
|
February 17, 2005
|
Craig McMillan
|
New Zealand
|
February 17, 2005
|
D
|
Damien Martyn
|
Australia
|
February 17, 2005
|
Daryl Tuffey
|
New Zealand
|
February 17, 2005
|
E
|
Ed Joyce
|
England
|
June 15, 2006
|
F
|
Farhad Reza
|
Bangladesh
|
November 28, 2006
|
G
|
Glenn McGrath
|
Australia
|
February 17, 2005
|
H
|
Hamish Marshall
|
New Zealand
|
February 17, 2005
|
I
|
Ian Bradshaw
|
West Indies
|
February 16, 2006
|
J
|
James Hopes
|
Australia
|
February 17, 2005
|
Jeff Wilson
|
New Zealand
|
February 17, 2005
|
K
|
Kyle Mills
|
New Zealand
|
February 17, 2005
|
L
|
Lou Vincent
|
New Zealand
|
February 16, 2006
|
M
|
Michael Clarke
|
Australia
|
February 17, 2005
|
Michael Hussey
|
Australia
|
February 17, 2005
|
Michael Kasprowicz
|
Australia
|
February 17, 2005
|
Mathew Sinclair
|
New Zealand
|
February 17, 2005
|
N
|
Nathan Astle
|
New Zealand
|
June 21, 2005
|
Nicky Boje
|
South Africa
|
June 21, 2005
|
O
|
Owais Shah
|
England
|
June 28, 2007
|
P
|
Paul Collingwood
|
England
|
June 13, 2005
|
Q
|
Quinton de Kock
|
South Africa
|
December 21, 2012
|
R
|
Ricky Ponting
|
Australia
|
February 17, 2005
|
S
|
Simon Katich
|
Australia
|
February 17, 2005
|
Stephen Fleming
|
New Zealand
|
February 17, 2005
|
Scott Styris
|
New Zealand
|
February 17, 2005
|
T
|
Tillakaratne Dilshan
|
Sri Lanka
|
June 15, 2006
|
U
|
Umar Gul
|
Pakistan
|
September 4, 2007
|
V
|
Vikram Solanki
|
England
|
June 13, 2005
|
W
|
Wavell Hinds
|
West Indies
|
February 16, 2006
|
X
|
Xavier Marshall
|
West Indies
|
June 20, 2008
|
Y
|
Younis Khan
|
Pakistan
|
August 28, 2006
|
Z
|
Zaheer Khan
|
India
|
December 1, 2006
|
Now that we are all settled, I suppose we can wait safely for the fourth format to arrive in the sport we love so much.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor at CricketCountry and CricLife. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)