BIRMINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM, September 11, 2026: Razaullah arrived at Edgbaston as a 21-year-old fast bowler with eight first-class matches behind him. Three days later, he had taken four wickets, dismissed Joe Root as his first Test victim and joined Tim Southee at the top of one of Test cricket’s most unusual batting records.
Pakistan’s debutant smashed nine sixes during a remarkable 81 from 63 balls in the second innings of the third Test against England, equaling Southee’s record for the most sixes hit by a player in an innings during his debut Test.
The innings came from a man selected primarily for his pace.
Razaullah struck four fours as well as nine sixes, scored at a strike rate of 128.57 and helped Pakistan extend a second innings that had appeared close to ending before his arrival. His assault was part of a 121-run ninth-wicket partnership with Mohammad Abbas and pushed Pakistan to 449, forcing England into a fourth day at Edgbaston.
It added an extraordinary second chapter to a debut that had already produced two wickets on the opening day against England and eventually four wickets in the innings.
More significantly for the record books, Razaullah moved ahead of celebrated debut innings from Kyle Mayers, Michael Clarke, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Dewald Brevis and Gordon Greenidge.
Here are the top 10 performances on the list, ranked by the number of sixes hit in an individual innings during a player’s Test debut.
Most Sixes in an Innings During a Test Debut
| Rank | Player | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Strike Rate | Opponent | Venue | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tim Southee (New Zealand) | 77* | 40 | 4 | 9 | 192.50 | England | Napier | 2008 |
| 1 | Razaullah (Pakistan) | 81 | 63 | 4 | 9 | 128.57 | England | Birmingham | 2026 |
| 3 | Kyle Mayers (West Indies) | 210* | 310 | 20 | 7 | 67.74 | Bangladesh | Chattogram | 2021 |
| 4 | Michael Clarke (Australia) | 151 | 248 | 18 | 4 | 60.88 | India | Bengaluru | 2004 |
| 4 | Ibrahim Zadran (Afghanistan) | 87 | 208 | 6 | 4 | 41.82 | Bangladesh | Chattogram | 2019 |
| 4 | Kyle Jamieson (New Zealand) | 44 | 45 | 1 | 4 | 97.77 | India | Wellington | 2020 |
| 4 | Lhuan-dre Pretorius (South Africa) | 153 | 160 | 11 | 4 | 95.62 | Zimbabwe | Bulawayo | 2025 |
| 4 | Dewald Brevis (South Africa) | 51 | 41 | 3 | 4 | 124.39 | Zimbabwe | Bulawayo | 2025 |
| 9 | Bruce Taylor (New Zealand) | 105 | N/A | 14 | 3 | N/A | India | Eden Gardens | 1965 |
| 9 | Gordon Greenidge (West Indies) | 93 | N/A | 13 | 3 | N/A | India | Bengaluru | 1974 |
Note: Historical scorecards do not contain complete ball-by-ball data for every older innings, which is why balls faced and strike rate are unavailable for some entries.
1. Tim Southee: 9 Sixes vs England, Napier, 2008
For more than 18 years, Tim Southee stood alone.
The New Zealand fast bowler was only 19 when he made his Test debut against England at Napier in March 2008. His reputation was built around swing bowling, but his second innings became one of the great pieces of lower-order hitting in Test history.
Southee finished unbeaten on 77 from only 40 balls.
Four fours were accompanied by nine sixes, giving him a strike rate of 192.50.
New Zealand were chasing an impossible 553, so the innings did not change the result. It did, however, immediately establish Southee’s ability to strike a cricket ball astonishing distances.
That nine-six mark survived every Test debut that followed.
Until Razaullah.
1. Razaullah: 9 Sixes vs England, Birmingham, 2026
Razaullah’s route to the same record could hardly have been more unexpected.
Pakistan brought him into the side after losing the first two Tests and making sweeping changes before Edgbaston. The Sports Encounter documented how England’s victory at Lord’s triggered an emergency Pakistan rebuild, with players released and the coaching structure changed before the series finale.
Razaullah immediately provided one of the few positives.
On Day 1, his fourth delivery in Test cricket trapped Joe Root lbw. He later bowled Emilio Gay and finished the opening day with two wickets.
The performance developed further on Day 2. Razaullah completed figures of four for 148 as England amassed 453, an expensive return but still an impressive wicket tally for a fast bowler making his first international appearance. Our Day 2 analysis examined how England’s batting depth forced him to keep attacking despite the mounting total.
Then came the surprise with the bat.
Razaullah’s 81 contained only four fours but nine sixes. That means 54 of his 81 runs came from maximums alone.
He faced 63 deliveries and scored at 128.57, an extraordinary rate within a Pakistan innings otherwise built largely around longer occupation of the crease.
The Pakistan Cricket Board had already highlighted his impact with the ball on debut. Two days later, his batting had placed him alongside Southee in the record books.
3. Kyle Mayers: 7 Sixes vs Bangladesh, Chattogram, 2021
Kyle Mayers sits behind Southee and Razaullah in sixes, but his innings is unquestionably the most consequential on this list.
West Indies were chasing 395 against Bangladesh in Chattogram.
Mayers responded with an unbeaten 210 from 310 balls.
His innings contained 20 fours and seven sixes and carried West Indies to one of the most remarkable successful fourth-innings chases in Test history.
This was power hitting with a completely different purpose from Southee’s or Razaullah’s.
Mayers had to bat for time as well as score.
He shared a 216-run partnership with fellow debutant Nkrumah Bonner and remained at the crease until the chase was complete.
The innings became the first fourth-innings double century by a Test debutant and remains one of the finest debut performances the format has seen.
Mayers’ West Indies later endured very different red-ball challenges, including the 2026 series with Pakistan reviewed in The Sports Encounter’s West Indies-Pakistan series assessment.
4. Michael Clarke: 4 Sixes vs India, Bengaluru, 2004
Michael Clarke’s first Test innings looked nothing like the beginning of a player feeling his way into international cricket.
Australia handed him a debut in Bengaluru against an Indian attack built around conditions that had historically troubled touring batters.
Clarke made 151 from 248 balls.
His innings included 18 fours and four sixes.
At the time, four sixes were the most ever hit by a batter during a Test debut.
Clarke combined patience with the willingness to attack India’s spinners, and the innings helped Australia establish the platform for a victory that became important in their successful 2004 series campaign.
Four years later, Southee more than doubled Clarke’s six-hitting record.
4. Ibrahim Zadran: 4 Sixes vs Bangladesh, Chattogram, 2019
Ibrahim Zadran’s place on this list arrived during a very different stage of a nation’s Test development.
Afghanistan had only recently entered Test cricket when the teenager made 87 against Bangladesh at Chattogram in September 2019.
He faced 208 balls, hit six fours and four sixes, and showed remarkable patience for an inexperienced opener playing in unfamiliar conditions.
The strike rate of 41.82 separates his innings from the more explosive performances on this list.
The sixes were not the innings.
They were selective attacks inside a long occupation of the crease.
That makes Ibrahim’s four maximums particularly interesting. They came from a batter willing to spend more than 200 balls constructing his innings rather than searching continuously for boundaries.
4. Kyle Jamieson: 4 Sixes vs India, Wellington, 2020
Kyle Jamieson’s debut shares several similarities with Razaullah’s.
Both entered Test cricket primarily as fast bowlers.
Both immediately demonstrated that their batting could influence matches.
Jamieson made 44 from 45 balls against India at Wellington in February 2020, hitting one four and four sixes.
His innings helped New Zealand create a substantial first-innings lead after India’s bowlers had begun fighting their way back into the contest.
Jamieson also took four wickets in India’s first innings.
His debut therefore became an early indication that New Zealand had found an all-round Test cricketer rather than simply another tall seamer.
4. Lhuan-dre Pretorius: 4 Sixes vs Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, 2025
Lhuan-dre Pretorius produced the second-highest score among the top 10.
The South African wicketkeeper-batter made 153 from 160 balls on debut against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in June 2025.
His innings included 11 fours and four sixes.
Pretorius was only 19 years and 93 days old, becoming South Africa’s youngest Test centurion and surpassing Graeme Pollock’s long-standing national record.
Unlike several lower-order entries on this list, Pretorius carried major responsibility in the batting order.
South Africa had encountered early trouble before he and another debutant, Dewald Brevis, counterattacked.
Pretorius has continued demonstrating that attacking ability across formats. More recently, he scored his maiden T20I hundred during South Africa’s 2026 Namibia tri-series after making 94 against Zimbabwe in the same tournament.
4. Dewald Brevis: 4 Sixes vs Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, 2025
Pretorius was not the only South African debutant rewriting the six-hitting list in Bulawayo.
Dewald Brevis made 51 from only 41 deliveries in the same Test.
He struck three fours and four sixes at a strike rate of 124.39.
The two debutants shared a crucial partnership after South Africa’s top order had been placed under pressure.
Pretorius supplied the century.
Brevis supplied even greater acceleration.
The innings fitted the reputation Brevis had developed long before receiving his Test cap. His natural power remains central to his game across formats, something visible again during South Africa’s recent white-ball matches against Zimbabwe.
9. Bruce Taylor: 3 Sixes vs India, Eden Gardens, 1965
Bruce Taylor takes the list back more than six decades.
The New Zealand all-rounder scored 105 on Test debut against India at Eden Gardens in March 1965.
His innings contained 14 fours and three sixes.
Detailed balls-faced records are not available in the statistical dataset for the innings, but its boundary count alone shows how aggressively Taylor scored by the standards of his era.
Three sixes in Test cricket during the mid-1960s carried a very different meaning from three sixes today.
Bats were smaller.
Boundaries were often larger.
Airborne attacking strokes carried far greater tactical stigma.
Taylor’s inclusion shows that aggressive Test debuts are not purely a product of the modern game.
9. Gordon Greenidge: 3 Sixes vs India, Bengaluru, 1974
Gordon Greenidge’s first Test innings offered an early glimpse of what would become one of the defining opening careers in West Indies cricket.
He made 93 against India at Bengaluru in November 1974.
The innings contained 13 fours and three sixes.
Greenidge fell seven short of a century, but West Indies won the Test by 267 runs.
His debut came in a side containing Roy Fredericks, Alvin Kallicharran, Clive Lloyd and another debutant who would become rather important to West Indies cricket: Viv Richards.
Greenidge’s three sixes remain enough to keep him inside the top 10 more than half a century later.
What Makes Razaullah’s Record Different?
There is an important pattern in this list.
Most of the names are recognized primarily as batters or genuine all-rounders.
Clarke became one of Australia’s finest middle-order batters.
Greenidge became a great West Indies opener.
Mayers was selected for his batting and all-round ability.
Pretorius and Brevis arrived with reputations built around aggressive run-scoring.
Razaullah arrived as a fast bowler.
So did Southee.
That makes the shared record particularly unusual.
The two men who have hit the most sixes in an innings during a Test debut are both specialist fast bowlers.
| Player | Primary role | Debut innings on record | Sixes | Strike rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tim Southee | Fast bowler | 77* from 40 | 9 | 192.50 |
| Razaullah | Fast bowler | 81 from 63 | 9 | 128.57 |
Southee’s innings came with New Zealand facing an impossible fourth-innings chase.
Razaullah’s came with Pakistan trying to turn a seemingly lost Test into something England would at least have to finish on another day.
Different circumstances.
The same extraordinary number.
Razaullah’s Debut Has Changed Quickly From Curiosity to Selection Question
Before Edgbaston, Razaullah was one of the symbols of Pakistan’s sudden mid-series reset.
Pakistan had been comprehensively beaten at Headingley and Lord’s, prompting selection and coaching changes that followed weeks of uncertainty around the Test side.
The Sports Encounter had already argued in its 30-player Pakistan Test rebuild that the country’s problem was less about an absence of talent and more about identifying, developing and retaining the right red-ball players.
Razaullah has now made himself impossible to ignore.
He took Joe Root as his maiden Test wicket.
He finished England’s first innings with four wickets.
Then he hit nine sixes.
The ICC highlighted his pace and impact after the opening day, while the PCB documented his four-wicket haul on Day 2.
Whatever happens next in the Test, Pakistan have learned something they did not know with certainty when the match began.
Razaullah belongs in the conversation.
The Record Also Shows How Test Batting Has Changed
The chronology is revealing.
Bruce Taylor reached three sixes in 1965.
Gordon Greenidge matched him in 1974.
Clarke moved to four in 2004.
Southee exploded to nine in 2008.
The modern entries have arrived much more frequently.
Ibrahim Zadran, Jamieson, Mayers, Pretorius, Brevis and now Razaullah have all entered the list since 2019.
That reflects a broader shift in batting technique and risk.
Modern Test players grow up playing multiple formats. Clearing the boundary is no longer treated as an emergency option reserved for tailenders or desperate declarations.
Our feature on cricket’s six-sixes phenomenon examined how boundary hitting has evolved across formats. Razaullah’s innings offers the Test version of that trend, although the identity of the batter makes it far less predictable.
Test cricket itself has also been enjoying an unusually busy period. The Sports Encounter recently documented a run of 19 consecutive calendar days with Test cricket scheduled, reflecting the format’s continuing ability to produce very different forms of drama.
Most Sixes on Test Debut: The Record in Perspective
Razaullah has not broken Southee’s record.
He has joined it.
That distinction matters.
Nine remains the benchmark.
Mayers sits two behind with seven.
No specialist top-order batter has yet reached Southee and Razaullah’s mark.
That may be the strangest part of all.
Test cricket’s most prolific six-hitters on debut are not two destructive openers, middle-order power hitters or white-ball converts.
They are Tim Southee and Razaullah.
Two fast bowlers.
Eighteen years apart.
Nine sixes each.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who has hit the most sixes in an innings on Test debut?
Tim Southee of New Zealand and Pakistan’s Razaullah share the record with nine sixes each in an innings during their debut Tests.
How many sixes did Razaullah hit against England?
Razaullah hit nine sixes during his 81 from 63 balls against England at Edgbaston in September 2026.
Did Razaullah hit nine sixes in his first Test innings?
No. He hit the nine sixes in Pakistan’s second innings of his debut Test. The record concerns an innings played during a player’s debut Test, not necessarily the player’s first batting innings.
How many sixes did Tim Southee hit on Test debut?
Southee hit nine sixes while scoring an unbeaten 77 from 40 balls against England at Napier in 2008.
Who is third for the most sixes on Test debut?
Kyle Mayers is third with seven sixes in his unbeaten 210 for West Indies against Bangladesh in Chattogram in 2021.
How many sixes did Michael Clarke hit on Test debut?
Clarke hit four sixes during his 151 against India in Bengaluru in 2004.
How many sixes did Lhuan-dre Pretorius hit on Test debut?
Pretorius hit four sixes during his 153 against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in 2025.
How many sixes did Dewald Brevis hit in his first Test?
Brevis hit four sixes while scoring 51 from 41 balls against Zimbabwe in his Test debut at Bulawayo in 2025.
What did Razaullah do with the ball on Test debut?
Razaullah took four wickets in England’s first innings, including Joe Root and Emilio Gay.
Who are the top 10 players for sixes in an innings during a Test debut?
The top 10 in the supplied record list are Tim Southee, Razaullah, Kyle Mayers, Michael Clarke, Ibrahim Zadran, Kyle Jamieson, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Dewald Brevis, Bruce Taylor and Gordon Greenidge.
