Aussies who began their careers on Test summer’s biggest day

As Sam Konstas gets set for his Test debut, we look back at the most recent Aussies to receive their first Baggy Green on Boxing Day.

Matthew Nicholson (1998, v England)

The fiery paceman has one of the more remarkable Baggy Green stories of recent times. An adopted West Aussie, Nicholson missed the entire 1997-98 season due to chronic fatigue syndrome, before storming to the top of the sport the very next summer. The right-arm quick tore through England with 7-77 in a WACA Ground Ashes warm-up, and was subsequently called upon for the Fourth Test in Melbourne. Nicholson dismissed star batter Nasser Hussain twice amid four wickets for the match, but the Aussies lost and he was dropped – never to be recalled at Test level again.

Brett Lee (1999, v India)

Comfortably the most accomplished name on this list. The then 23-year-old gave more than a glimpse of his considerable potential by blasting through India, claiming seven scalps, including Rahul Dravid twice. Lee made a mess of opener Sadagoppan Ramesh’s stumps with just his fourth ball in Test cricket on his way to a first innings five-for, and it was the start of a superb career that sees him sitting in seventh on Australia’s all-time wicket-takers to this day.

Martin Love (2002, v England)

Love’s unique five-Test career started like it ended – in superb fashion. The Queenslander earned a Boxing Day call-up on the back of a decade-long first-class domination, and batted twice in Melbourne while remaining unconquered. Love carved out scores of 62no and 6no in the Aussies’ Ashes win, and peeled off his maiden Test ton just seven months later against Bangladesh. But Damien Martyn’s return from injury meant he was squeezed out and never worked his way back in, leaving him among a small list of players to have hit a century in their final-ever Test.

Phil Jaques (2005, v South Africa)

Stepping in for an injured Justin Langer, Jaques faced a baptism of fire against South Africa’s Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini – and lasted just 12 balls on Boxing Day morning before succumbing to the former. The opener improved with 28 in the second dig, and when given his opportunity to become Langer’s permanent replacement in 2007, he took it with both hands by scoring back-to-back tons against Sri Lanka.

Ed Cowan (2011, v India)

If Konstas can produce an innings as effective as Cowan’s straight out of the gate on Boxing Day morning, he’ll be a happy man. Inserted immediately into the action after Australia opted to bat against India, Cowan grafted for 177 deliveries atop the order, keeping his head as the likes of David Warner, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey lost their wickets at the other end. Cowan finished with 68 to top-score for the Aussies in a Test they went on to win, and it would prove one of the highlights of an 18-Test career.

Jackson Bird (2012, v Sri Lanka)

Another who wasted no time making an immediate impact as the Test got underway. Leaning more on precision than express pace, Bird had Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne caught behind with his 10th delivery with the new ball and finished with 2-32 from 13 overs to set Australia’s innings victory in motion. Bird earned Player of the Match honours the very next week in Sydney, but went on to play just seven more Tests to rank among the more unlucky fast bowlers of recent times.

Joe Burns (2014, v India)

Burns’ first Test and final Test were both Boxing Day fixtures against India, six years apart. The Queenslander-turned-Italian (yep, you read that right) batted alongside Steve Smith (192 in the first innings) and Shaun Marsh (99 in the second innings) but could only muster scores of 13 and 9 himself in an underwhelming debut in a draw. He found his feet quickly afterwards en route to four centuries in 23 Tests, with an elevation from the middle order to opener producing reasonable results.

Scott Boland (2021, v England)

It’s still fresh in the memory due to it only being three years ago, but this one will likely still be burned into our brains three decades from now. Having taken just one first-innings scalp, Boland produced a remarkable burst of 6-7 – strung across two days – to reduce England to rubble. The Victorian jagged two wickets in three balls late on day two and added four more when play resumed the next morning in a stunning turn of events. Having been used sparingly since then due to the domination of Australia’s ‘big four’ bowlers, Boland will this week be eyeing a repeat performance as he subs in for Josh Hazlewood.