Top ten debut innings in ODIs

7. Phil Jaques (Australia – 94 vs South Africa, Melbourne, January 2006)

Phil Jaques of Australia

At a time when the Supersub rule was in place in ODI cricket, the left-handed Phil Jaques made a record-breaking entry into the shorter format of the game against South Africa at Melbourne.

Opening the innings with Damien Martyn, Jaques proceeded to play a controlled innings, helping Australia to overcome the early jitters as they lost three quick wickets before the total reached 100. In the company of Michael Clarke, the southpaw raised 87 runs for the fourth wicket, hitting 14 fours in his 112-ball knock before Proteas’ Supersub Johan van der Wath had him caught behind by Mark Boucher for a classy 94.

A Brett Lee-inspired fightback saw the South Africans shut out for 186 despite a valiant cameo of 46 from Shaun Pollock. Jaques’s sublime performance helped him become the highest scorer for Australia on debut, bettering Kepler Wessels’s 23-year-old record.

Sadly, three operations on a troublesome back led to the cancellation of his central contract in 2009, and with the emergence of players such as Phil Hughes (incidentally, another southpaw), the NSW batsman hasn’t turned out for his country since.