When Mitchell Starc’s snaky inswinger zoomed past Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first ball of the Pink-Ball Test in Adelaide, the Aussie left-hander joined West Indies’ Pedro Collins in the Test Quick list.
Starc’s first-ball strike in a Test was the third time he had dismissed a batsman in a Test match. While the Aussie comms jumped the gun in announcing Starc as the first to achieve the feat three times, a quick retraction heralded the Barbadian’s forgotten career.
A left-hander in the Starc ilk, Collins had a short Test career – 32 appearances, 106 wickets – but not without magic, including making Sachin Tendulkar his ‘bunny’.
Super Starc first bowlers! 🍑🍑
Which delivery was better? #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/aV1XtC4esb
– cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 6, 2024
Three out of three
Collins’ comeback was highlighted on Friday by his extraordinary achievement of becoming the first bowler to take wickets in the first ball of three Tests, as well as his role in ending former Bangladeshi opener Hannan Sarkar’s international career.
Collins had a smooth run on two continents as he struck out the same batter in three games between 2002 and 2004. Sarkar first got shut out in Dhaka in late 2002 before getting two shutouts in Gros Islet and Kingston in back-to-back matches in 2004. The tenacious Sarkar would play just one match for Bangladesh before he was axed from the side. Collins would add more caps to his name before making his final appearance in 2006, with half-brother Fidel Edwards going on to have a successful Test career with the Windies.
Tendulkar ‘bunny’
Collins rose to international fame when he tormented Sachin Tendulkar during India’s tour of the Caribbean in 2002, dismissing him three times in two consecutive Tests. Collins conjured up a legend of beating India to a golden and silver duck. He has joined the likes of Glenn McGrath, Courtney Walsh and Makhaya Ntini as the only bowlers to have bowled Tendulkar out more times.
“I remember them like yesterday, I will never forget those three balls. Nobody thinks and talks about other wickets, they only talk about those wickets – getting Sachin out. Till now, when people see me they say this man destroyed Sachin. He was the one who got Sachin out. Everywhere I go people still remember those wickets. Sachin and I have a good relationship,” Collins could have written in an interview with Firstpost.
But his new career had a few other gems, like the one Starc emulated by bowling his first ball against the Indians in Adelaide.