Andrew Mathieson becomes second New Zealand bowler to take a wicket with his first ball in ODIs

Mathieson conceded 40 from his next 23 balls in the match without picking up any further wicket.

In the fifth One-Day International (ODI) between England and New Zealand at Chester-le-Street, Andrew Mathieson became the second New Zealand bowler to take a wicket off his very first delivery in ODIs. Bharath Seervi lists players who took a wicket on their first ball in ODIs and how far they excelled in bowling in their career. READ: ENG vs NZ ODI series — A series breaking all batting records

A wicket on the very first ball of career is always a remarkable feat for any player, and Andrew Mathieson did exactly the same for New Zealand against England in the final ODI at Chester-le-Street, Durham on June 20, 2015. It was Mathieson’s first ball in international cricket. Unfortunately, that was the all he could do for his side.

Mathieson conceded 40 from his next 23 balls in the match without picking up any further wicket. His first ball of the match produced a wicket dismissing the opener Jason Roy and his last ball of the match gave England a 3-2 victory in the series. He conceded two runs in his last ball which England needed in seven balls to clinch the victory. A dream debut ended in the completely opposite way! READ: Highest ODI totals after losing wicket on the first ball of the match

The only other New Zealander to take a wicket on his first ball in ODIs was Shane Thomson against India at Dunedin on March 1, 1990. Overall Andrew Mathieson is the 20^th to player to have the honour of picking up a wicket on ODI career’s first delivery. The last to do this before Mathieson was Kenneth Kamyuka of Canada against Netherlands in 2013.

The table below lists all the 20 players who have got this feat along with the batsmen whom they dismissed. READ: England vs New Zealand, 1st ODI: Records galore

Wicket in ODI career’s first ball

The bowlers highlighted in bold are part-timers.

–          Everton Matambanadzo and Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked wickets on the first ball of their team’s innings.

–          Sadagoppan Ramesh and Wavell Hinds did it in the same match.

–          Fidel Edwards had the best figures in the match among the above players — 6 for 22, still the best bowling figures for anyone on ODI debut. He is the only player to take six wickets on ODI debut.

–          Matambanadzo and Kenneth Kamyuka took four wickets each — 4 for 32 and 4 for 38 respectively.

–          It was the only ball delivered by Martin van Jaarsveld in the match.

–          Kevin O’Brien has the most number of wickets in ODIs among the 20 players who took a wicket on their first ball in ODIs — 74 wickets from 91 matches and 76 innings. He is followed by Edwards (60) and Thilan Thushara (50).

–          It remained the only wicket of Ramesh’s ODI career.

Footnote Trivia

–          Shaminda Eranga is the only bowler to take a wicket in his first over in Tests, ODIs and T20Is. He picked up a wicket on his first ball in Tests.

–          Bhuvneshwar’s first wicket in each of three formats were bowled. He is the only player to achieve this.

–          Roy (batsman) was also dismissed off the first ball he faced in his ODI career.

(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at @SeerviBharath and on Facebook here)

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