5 debutants in the month of July
World cricket was blessed to witness quite a few thrilling matches in the month of July with India taking on Sri Lanka and South Africa clashing against the might of England. After the bash of Champions Trophy was followed by a mesmerising Women's World Cup, cricket was back to its traditional form in July with Test cricket taking over.
Sri Lanka chased down a mammoth 388 against Zimbabwe to record the highest run chase in Asia in Test cricket. England drubbed South Africa at Lord's before the visitors blanked them at Trent Bridge to draw level. The see-saw game continued at The Oval with England edging ahead with a whopping win.
Meanwhile, India arrived on Lankan shores with quite a few openers injured but went on to hand a sound thrashing to the islanders who were woeful in every aspect of the game. More games meant more debutants and quite a few of them touched feet on International waters in July this year. Here we take a look at some of them.
#5 Dawid Malan
After a Man of the Match award in his debut T20 against the Proteas, Dawid Malan was picked in the Test squad for the first time. Even then, he wasn't expected to debut with Liam Dawson preferred as a second spinner at Lord's and Trent Bridge. However, a sudden change of plans from the management earned Dawid Malan a Test debut at The Oval in the third Test.
Extra cover: Ben Stokes: The sharpest weapon in England's armoury
An attacking top order batsman for Middlesex, the southpaw is a regular name in T20 leagues across the globe with him playing the PSL finals for Peshawar Zalmi. He is a predominantly off-side player having some eye-pleasing shots up his sleeve. In his debut innings, Malan was bowled for 1 by a corner of a yorker from Kagiso Rabada. He failed to impress in the second innings as well, falling for 10.