4 well-known cricketers who have played only 1 Test match for their country
Every cricket fan in his childhood, who has picked up a bat or bowled a ball has dreamt of playing Test cricket for his country. No wonder why most of the T20 performances are forgotten but test performances have a special place in the hearts of every cricketer as well as cricket fans.
In the modern era, a majority of players make their ODI and T20I debuts before playing test cricket. Rather, they are 'given the test cap' based on their limited-overs performances. Even with the surge in the popularity of T20s, test cricket is still considered the greatest format of the game by the cricket experts.
For the cricketers, it is a 'prestige' to play test cricket which very few have enjoyed. These days, with cricketers willing to commit themselves to the T20 leagues across the globe, there are many of them who have not played the longest format of the game for years.
These players would have been successful in test cricket. Instead, they chose to not give it a chance and focus more on limited-over formats of the game. In this article, we will take a look at 4 players who have played only 1 test match for their country.
Note: Only those players whose lone test match came before January 1, 2014 have been considered here.
#4 Albie Morkel (Cape Town, 2009)
Albie Morkel, one of the best T20 all-rounders of his times, has appeared in only one test for South Africa against Australia at Cape Town in March 2009. He did not have a great game with the ball as he returned with the match-figures of 1/132. With the bat though, he scored 58 runs in his lone test innings.
Unlike his brother Morne, Albie did not play test cricket for long. His ODI figures from 58 games read 782 runs and 50 wickets. In T20Is he has played 51 games scoring 572 runs and picking 26 wickets.
Morkel was a very popular figure in the IPL for a long time, playing for a number of years for the Chennai Super Kings. With age not on his side, Albie may never play for South Africa again.