Youngest Test debutant from first 8 Test playing nations

#2 England- Brian Close, 18 years 149 days

Brian Close

One of England's best-known cricketers also holds the record for being the youngest to have ever earned a Test debut for the country and it must be said that the selectors showed great foresight in giving him the platform at the age of 18 years and 149 days. Brian Close had proved himself for Yorkshire and in 1949, he was handed his first England cap in a Test match against New Zealand at Manchester.

Close scored a duck in England's only innings in a drawn game but over the course of his career, he became known as one of the most courageous cricketers in the world and a superb short leg fielder, who feared nothing. He had a long and distinguished career for Yorkshire, but his England career only lasted 22 Tests.

He made only 4 fifties but in 1976, he came back to the side to play the West Indian fast bowlers who had been terrorising the English batsman and his batting against Michael Holding (without a helmet) is still regarded as one of the most courageous displays of batting in cricket.