5 legendary England cricketers who endured forgettable Test debuts

#4 – Graham Gooch (Edgbaston, 1975)

Gooch bagged a pair against a power-packed Australian bowling unit

A stellar career spanning across three decades got underway in the most underwhelming way possible. Up against a motivated pace attack comprising of Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and the underrated Max Walker, Graham Gooch became the 17^th batsman in Test history to bag a pair on debut.

With the opposition team led by the tactically shrewd Ian Chappell, there was no hiding place for the nervous newcomer. From both innings combined, Gooch faced ten deliveries and nor once did he come close to scoring his maiden Test run. However, when he finally rode off into the sunset, the right-hander had amassed close to 9000 runs and earned a glowing reputation as one of England’s finest.

Performance on Test debut – 0 from 3 balls & 0 from 7 balls

Overall career – 8900 runs from 118 matches at average of 42.58 with 20 centuries and 46 fifties