Quiz! Every spinner to bowl the first ball of a men's Test match

Spinners rarely take the new ball, in order to give the pace bowlers a chance to swing it early on. They are used a bit more frequently, often for matchup reasons, in short-form cricket though.

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It's even more rare for them to do so in the very first innings of a Test match – in the third or fourth innings on certain wickets in Asia, it's slightly more common.

Only 31 times in men's Test history (out of nearly 3000 Tests) has a spinner sent down the first ball. Majority of these came pre-World War I, during the era of uncovered wickets. However, the last three have come in the space of the last few months.

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Can you guess all 31 instances (some names appear multiple times)? You have five minutes' time. To help, we've provided each player's country and the match in which they opened the bowling.

Correct as of April 5, 2026.

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Can you name every spinner to bowl the first ball of a men's Test match?

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