Cricket record untouched for 113 years

In the year 1903, a sporting sensation by the name of Tip Foster created the record of the highest score by a debutant by scoring a magnificent knock of 287 runs against Australia. To this date, 113 years later, his record still stands and remains untouched by a fair distance.

The incident occurred during the first Test of the Ashes, which was not so historic back then at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Australia. Foster who walked in at no. 5 in the batting line-up in the first innings of the match decimated the Australian bowling line-up en-route his historic knock which consisted of 37 fours. England went on to win that match by 5 wickets and eventually win the Ashes as well by a 3-2 margin on Australian soil.

He also held the record for the highest ever score by an overseas batsman in Australia which was only recently broken by Ross Taylor when he smashed his way to 290 against the Kangaroos at Perth last year.

Foster’s magnificent knock did not come as a surprise to many as he his family was known for their cricketing ability all across the country. He was the third oldest of seven brothers, all of whom had played a combined total of 819 first-class cricket matches for Worcestershire back in the late 18^th and early 19^th century.

The only person who has come close to breaking his record was South Africa’s Jacques Rudolph back in 2002 against Bangladesh at Chittagong. He remained unbeaten at 222 in his debut match against the Tigers which the Proteas comfortably won by an innings and 60 runs. Graeme Smith decided to declare South Africa’s innings when Rudolph was nearing the historic figure of 287 in the first innings of the match.

India’s ODI openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma both came close to breaking his record as well by scoring 187 and 177 respectively on their debut in 2013. While Dhawan shone against Australia at Mohali, Rohit smashed the West Indies bowlers at his favourite venue Kolkata.

Here are the top 10 scores by cricketers on their debut

Batsman	Runs	Opposition	Year
Tip Foster (ENG)	287	Australia	1903
Jacques Rudolph (SA)	222*	Bangladesh	2003
Lawrence Rowe (WI)	214	New Zealand	1972
Mathew Sinclair (NZ)	214	West Indies	1999
Brendon Kurupu (SL)	201*	New Zealand	1987
Shikhar Dhawan (IND)	187	Australia	2013
Rohit Sharma (IND)	177	West Indies	2013
George Hadley (WI)	176	England	1930
Hamish Rutherford (NZ)	171	England	2013
Yasir Hameed (PAK)	170	Bangladesh	2003

The only man to captain England in cricket and football

Tip began to play first-class cricket for Worcestershire in 1899 and due to his impressive performances in 1900 and 1901, he earned the title of the Wisden Cricketer of the Year. Shortly after that, his appearances at the first-class level reduced as he began to concentrate on his career as a stock broker.

Despite that, he continued to show his sporting prowess and represented England in football as well and was named the captain of the England side in what was to be his fifth and final international match, played against Wales in 1902.

To this date, he continues to be the only batsman to have captained the English football and cricket team. He played a total of 139 first-class cricket matches and 8 international Tests for England in a career which spanned almost 15 years.

During his football career, he scored 6 goals in a match against Germany, but for some reason, that match was not counted as a proper international match back then. Apart from that, he played 5 international matches for the English football team.

He had an untimely death in 1914, aged 36 due to complications related to diabetes he was suffering from for a few years.