First player to hit a six off the first ball of a Test match

In the 136-year history of Test cricket, no player had smashed a six off the first ball of a Test match until West Indies opener Chris Gayle (Jamaica) swatted Bangladesh paceman Sohag Gazi over the boundary rope from the first delivery of the 2,051st Test match, which started in Mirpur, Bangladesh, on 13 November 2012. Gazi, who made his Test debut in this match, later dismissed Gayle for 24 runs – but only after Gayle had taken 14 runs off his first over, including a second maximum off the fourth ball of the day. Gayle’s innings of 24 included two fours and two sixes, taking his tally of career sixes to 84 (now 85, as of 25 February 2013). Only five players have scored more sixes in Test match history. Adam Gilchrist (Australia) has hit the most sixes in a Test career - 100. Gazi took three of the four wickets to fall in the West Indies’ first-innings total of 527 for 4 declared, finishing with figures of 47-6-145-3. The first Test match took place in 1877 and was a “timeless” Test contested by Australia and England at Melbourne Cricket Ground on 15-19 March 1877.