Australia in Sri Lanka: Josh Inglis joins elite group of West Australians to make Test debut century
Western Australia’s Josh Inglis may have had to wait all summer for his Test debut, but he made the time riding the pine more than worth it, striking a classy debut century in Galle and nearly breaking a record in the process.
Inglis became the fourth WA boy in a row to ton up on debut behind Marcus North in South Africa, Shaun Marsh in 2011, also against Sri Lanka in their own backyard, and Adam Voges against West Indies four years later.
The gloveman never looked intimidated in his first Test knock, conquering conditions and continuing Australia’s gluttonous onslaught as the home nation toiled on a slow wicket.
Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.In fact, he struck his first-ever delivery faced to the rope as his fast hands and feet dominated his stroke play.
As he approached the three-figure Inglis was within touching distance of giving the fastest century on debut record, held by Indian Shikhar Dhawan off 85 balls against Australia in Mohali, a shake.
But the record was the last thing on his mind, with Usman Khawaja’s near-five-session vigil finally ended on 232 just as he neared the nervous 90s.
He had to survive one wobble, given out lbw sweeping before being saved by a bottom edge on review.
Inglis reached the second-fastest debut century, 90 balls, in style with a back-foot punch for three.
However, he fell shortly afterwards trying to maintain the tempo with the visitors approaching 600, chipping a catch to cover ending his innings with 102 off 93 balls.
