5 English cricketers who scored a century on their Test debut

Foakes scored 107 as England reached 342 in Sri Lanka.

Ben Foakes became the 20th Englishman to score a century on debut against Sri Lanka.

The wicketkeeper-batsman resumed his innings at the start of the day on 87 and found the boundary in the sixth over of the day to reach three figures.

Here, Press Association Sport takes a look at five other English cricketers who have scored a century on debut.

WG Grace, England v Australia, the Oval, 1880

Cricket – W.G. Grace — WG Grace scored 152 on his England debut in 1880 (PA Photos)

Two years later was in the side which lost at the same ground to mark the birth of the Ashes.

He made his highest Test score of 170 in 1886 and scored 1098 runs in 22 Tests for England.

Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, v Australia, Sydney, 1932

Cricket – India Tour of England – Kent County Cricket Club v India – St Lawrence Ground — Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi’s son Mansoor (pictured) also played cricket for India. (PA)

But he was dropped after the second Test in Melbourne after scoring just 15 and five and did not play again in the series.

He also captained India, making him the only Test cricketer to have played for India and England, three times for both countries.

Graham Thorpe, England v Australia, Trent Bridge, 1993

South Africa v England Second Test – Kingsmead — England’s Graham Thorpe made 100 Test appearances. (Matthew Fearn/PA)

An unbeaten 114 helped England to a draw against Australia after they declared on 422 for six.

Thorpe made 100 Test appearances for England, scoring 6744 runs with a high of 200 not out.

Matthew Prior, England v West Indies, Lord’s, 2007

Cricket – Investec First Test – England v Sri Lanka – Day Two – Lord’s — England’s Matt Prior had a battling average of 40.18 for his country. (Anthony Devlin/PA)

The wicketkeeper-batsman scored his runs at an impressive strike rate of
98.43.

Prior played 79 matches for England, and was an important part of their number one world ranking in 2011, with his average of 40.18.

Alastair Cook, India v England, Nagpur, 2006

England v India – Fifth Test – Day Five – The Kia Oval — Alastair Cook became England’s all-time leading run scorer. (Adam Davy/PA)

The Essex opener became England’s all-time leading run scorer in 2015 and ended with 12,472 runs including 33 centuries, and captained England’s first series win in India for 28 years in 2012.

Cook played for England for 12 years and in 161 Test matches – 158 of them
consecutive – with an average of 45.35.