Published: Dec 03, 2017, 08:50 AM (IST)
Edited: Dec 03, 2017, 08:51 AM (IST)
With regular wicketkeeper BJ Watling out of the series, New Zealand selectors banked on Tom Blundell to come good with the bat. On day three of the first Test, Blundell became the first New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsmen to score a century on debut.
He is overall the 105th player to achieve this feat and only the fifth wicketkeeper-batsmen after Umar Akmal, Matt Prior, Brendon Kuruppu and Romesh Kaluwitharana. Blundell, who played his school cricket just a throw away from Basin Reserve, surpassed Luke Ronchi’s record. Ronchi had scored 88 on his debut Test against England at Leeds.
It must be noted that Ronchi and Brendon McCullum were the only two wicketkeepers to have scored a fifty or above on debut.
| Player | Runs | Team | Opposition | Ground | Season | Notes |
| Charles Bannerman | 165* | Australia | England | MCG | 1876-77 | First Test ever |
| WG Grace | 152 | England | Australia | The Oval | 1880 | |
| Harry Graham | 107 | Australia | England | Lord’s | 1893 | |
| KS Ranjitsinhji | 154* | England | Australia | Old Trafford | 1896 | |
| Plum Warner | 132* | England | South Africa | Old Wanderers | 1898-99 | |
| Reggie Duff | 104 | Australia | England | MCG | 1901-02 | |
| Tip Foster | 287 | England | Australia | SCG | 1903-04 | Highest Test score at that point |
| George Gunn | 119 | England | Australia | SCG | 1906-07 | |
| Roger Hartigan | 116 | Australia | England | Adelaide Oval | 1907-08 | |
| Herbie Collins | 104 | Australia | England | SCG | 1920-21 | |
| Bill Ponsford | 110 | Australia | England | SCG | 1924-25 | |
| Archie Jackson | 164 | Australia | England | Adelaide Oval | 1928-29 | |
| George Headley | 176 | West Indies | England | Kensington Oval | 1929-30 | |
| Jackie Mills | 117 | New Zealand | England | Wellington | 1929-30 | |
| Nawab of Pataudi Sr | 102 | England | Australia | SCG | 1932-33 | |
| Bryan Valentine | 136 | England | India | Bombay Gymkhana | 1933-34 | |
| Lala Amarnath | 118 | India | England | |||
| Paul Gibb | 106 | England | South Africa | Old Wanderers | 1938-39 | |
| Billy Griffith | 140 | England | West Indies | Queen’s Park Oval | 1947-48 | |
| Andy Ganteaume | 112 | West Indies | England | Only Test | ||
| Jim Burke | 101* | Australia | England | Adelaide Oval | 1950-51 | |
| Peter May | 138 | England | South Africa | Headingley | 1951 | |
| Deepak Shodhan | 110 | India | Pakistan | Eden Gardens | 1952-53 | |
| Bruce Pairaudeau | 115 | West Indies | India | Queen’s Park Oval | 1952-53 | |
| Collie Smith | 104 | West Indies | Australia | Sabina Park | 1954-55 | |
| Kripal Singh | 100* | India | New Zealand | Hyderabad (India) | 1955-56 | |
| Conrad Hunte | 142 | West Indies | Pakistan | Kensington Oval | 1957-58 | |
| Arthur Milton | 104* | England | New Zealand | Headingley | 1958 | |
| Abbas Ali Baig | 112 | India | England | Old Trafford | 1959 | |
| Hanumant Singh | 105 | India | England | Kotla | 1963-64 | |
| Billy Ibadulla | 166 | Pakistan | Australia | Karachi | 1964-65 | |
| Bruce Taylor | 105 | New Zealand | India | Eden Gardens | 1964-65 | |
| Doug Walters | 155 | Australia | England | The Gabba | 1965-66 | |
| Joh’n Hampshire | 107 | England | West Indies | Lord’s | 1969 | |
| Gundappa Viswanath | 137 | India | Australia | Green Park | 1969-70 | |
| Greg Chappell | 108 | Australia | England | WACA | 1970-71 | |
| Lawrence Rowe | 214 | West Indies | New Zealand | Sabina Park | 1971-72 | Hundred in each innings |
| 100* | ||||||
| Alvin Kallicharran | 100* | West Indies | New Zealand | Bourda | 1971-72 | |
| Rodney Redmond | 107 | New Zealand | Pakistan | Eden Park | 1972-73 | |
| Frank Hayes | 106* | England | West Indies | The Oval | 1973 | |
| Gordon Greenidge | 107 | West Indies | India | Chinnaswamy | 1974-75 | |
| Len Baichan | 105* | West Indies | Pakistan | Lahore | 1974-75 | |
| Gary Cosier | 109 | Australia | West Indies | MCG | 1975-76 | |
| Surinder Amarnath | 124 | India | New Zealand | Eden Park | 1975-76 | |
| Javed Miandad | 163 | Pakistan | New Zealand | Lahore | 1976-77 | |
| Basil Williams | 100 | West Indies | Australia | Bourda | 1977-78 | |
| Dirk Wellham | 103 | Australia | England | The Oval | 1981 | |
| Saleem Malik | 100* | Pakistan | Sri Lanka | Karachi | 1981-82 | |
| Kepler Wessels | 162 | Australia | England | The Gabba | 1982-83 | |
| Wayne Phillips | 159 | Australia | Pakistan | WACA | 1983-84 | |
| Mohammad Azharuddin | 110 | India | England | Eden Gardens | 1984-85 | |
| Brendon Kuruppu | 201* | Sri Lanka | New Zealand | Colombo CCC | 1987 | |
| Mark Greatbatch | 107* | New Zealand | England | Eden Park | 1987-88 | |
| Mark Waugh | 138 | Australia | England | Adelaide Oval | 1990-91 | |
| Andrew Hudson | 163 | South Africa | West Indies | Bourda | 1992 | |
| Romesh Kaluwitharana | 132* | Sri Lanka | Australia | SSC | 1992 | |
| Dave Houghton | 121 | Zimbabwe | India | Harare | 1992-93 | First Test for Zimbabwe |
| Pravin Amre | 103 | India | South Africa | Kingsmead | 1992-93 | |
| Graham Thorpe | 114* | England | Australia | Trent Bridge | 1993 | |
| Greg Blewett | 102* | Australia | England | Adelaide Oval | 1994-95 | |
| Sourav Ganguly | 131 | India | England | Lord’s | 1996 | |
| Mohammad Wasim | 109* | Pakistan | New Zealand | Lahore | 1996-97 | |
| Ali Naqvi | 115 | Pakistan | South Africa | Rawalpindi | 1997 | Both in same innings |
| Azhar Mahmood | 128* | |||||
| Mathew Sinclair | 214 | New Zealand | West Indies | Wellington | 1999-00 | |
| Younis Khan | 107 | Pakistan | Sri Lanka | Rawalpindi | 1999-00 | |
| Aminul Islam | 145 | Bangladesh | India | Bangabandhu | 2000-01 | First Test for Bangladesh |
| Hamilton Masakadza | 119 | Zimbabwe | West Indies | Harare | 2001 | |
| Thilan Samaraweera | 103* | Sri Lanka | India | SSC | 2001 | |
| Taufeeq Umar | 104 | Pakistan | Bangladesh | Multan | 2001 | |
| Mohammad Ashraful | 114 | Bangladesh | Sri Lanka | SSC | 2001 | |
| Virender Sehwag | 105 | India | South Africa | Bloemfontein | 2001-02 | |
| Lou Vincent | 104 | New Zealand | Australia | WACA | 2001-02 | |
| Scott Styris | 107 | New Zealand | West Indies | St George’s | 2002 | |
| Jacques Rudolph | 222* | South Africa | Bangladesh | Chittagong | 2003 | |
| Yasir Hameed | 170 | Pakistan | Bangladesh | Karachi | 2003 | Hundred in each innings |
| 105 | ||||||
| Dwayne Smith | 105* | West Indies | South Africa | Newlands | 2003-04 | |
| Andrew Strauss | 112 | England | New Zealand | Lord’s | 2004 | |
| Michael Clarke | 151 | Australia | India | Chinnaswamy | 2004 | |
| Alastair Cook | 104* | England | India | Nagpur | 2005-06 | |
| Matt Prior | 126* | England | West Indies | Lord’s | 2007 | |
| Marcus North | 117 | Australia | South Africa | New Wanderers | 2008-09 | |
| Fawad Alam | 168 | Pakistan | Sri Lanka | Premadasa | 2009 | |
| Jonathan Trott | 119 | England | Australia | The Oval | 2009 | |
| Umar Akmal | 129 | Pakistan | New Zealand | Dunedin | 2009-10 | |
| Adrian Barath | 104 | West Indies | Australia | The Gabba | 2009-10 | |
| Alviro Petersen | 100 | South Africa | India | Eden Gardens | 2009-10 | |
| Suresh Raina | 120 | India | Sri Lanka | SSC | 2010 | |
| Kane Williamson | 131 | New Zealand | India | Motera | 2010-11 | |
| Kirk Edwards | 110 | West Indies | India | Roseau | 2011 | |
| Shaun Marsh | 141 | Australia | Sri Lanka | Pallekele | 2011 | |
| Abul Hasan | 113 | Bangladesh | West Indies | Khulna | 2012-13 | |
| Faf du Plessis | 110* | South Africa | Australia | Adelaide Oval | 2012-13 | |
| Hamish Rutherford | 171 | New Zealand | England | Dunedin | 2013 | |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 187 | India | Australia | Mohali | 2013 | |
| Rohit Sharma | 177 | India | West Indies | Eden Gardens | 2013-14 | |
| Jimmy Neesham | 137* | New Zealand | India | Wellington | 2013-14 | |
| Stiaan van Zyl | 101* | South Africa | West Indies | Centurion | 2014-15 | |
| Adam Voges | 130* | Australia | West Indies | Roseau | 2015 | |
| Stephen Cook | 115 | South Africa | England | Centurion | 2015-16 | |
| Keaton Jennings | 112 | England | India | Wankhede | 2016-17 | |
| Tom Blundell | 107* | New Zealand | West Indies | Christchruch | 2017-18 |
Blundell was also New Zealand’s 11th player to score a century on debut. His century came in 178 balls, including 13 fours. Blundell remained unbeaten on 107*, as Kane Williamson declared New Zealand’s innings on 520 for 9, taking a 386-run lead over West Indies.
