This rare photo shows fans embrace Brendon Kuruppu, soon after he reached his double-century on Test debut against New Zealand on 19 April, 1987 at CCC Photo Courtesy M.L. Fernando[/caption]
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Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 397/ 9 decl. (Brendon Kuruppu 201 n.o., Ranjan Madugalle 60; Richard Hadlee 4/102)
New Zealand 406/5 (Richard Hadlee 151 n.o., Jeff Crowe 120 n.o.; Ravi Ratnayeke 2/111)
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As Pathum Nissanka Silva, the Kalutara Vidyalaya and Isipathana College batting prodigy, made a debut hundred at the age of 22 in Antigua last week in the first Test against the West Indies, the name Brendon Kuruppu instantly came to mind.
It was Kuruppu who first brought this “issue” into the discussion in Sri Lanka: The issue of scoring a century on Test debut! He scored an unbeaten 201 against New Zealand on his Test debut in 1987.
While the rest of the batsmen struggled, Kuruppu, who opened the batting, contributed with 201 in the Sri Lankan total of 397. He batted patiently for 548 balls, scoring 24 boundaries.
Don Sardha Brendon Priyantha Kuruppu was one of the two debutants in that 1987 Test at CCC Ground, Colombo, the other being Andrew Jones. It was also Jeff Crowe s first Test as Captain.
Kuruppu reached his maiden first-class ton, thereby became the first Sri Lankan to score a hundred on Test debut (the feat was later emulated by Romesh Kaluwitharana in 1992, Thilan Samaraweera in 2001, and Nissanka in 2021).
Kuruppu was still in his 180s when last man Kosala Kuruppuarachchi joined him. To his credit Kuruppuarachchi hung around for 35 minutes and 20 balls allowing Kuruppu to become the third batsman to score a double-hundred on Test debut, after Tip Foster and Lawrence Rowe. The feat has subsequently been emulated by Mathew Sinclair and Jacques Rudolph.
It was by far the slowest Test double-hundred, reached in 548 balls and 777 minutes. Anshuman Gaekwad had taken 652 minutes to reach his double-hundred against Pakistan at Jalandhar in 1983/84.