Charles Bannerman (3 July 1851 – 20 August 1930) was an English-born Australian cricketer. A right-handed batsman, he represented Australia in three Test matches between 1877 and 1879. At the domestic level, he played for the New South Wales cricket team. Later, he became an umpire. He is most famous for facing the first ball ever bowled in Test cricket, scoring the first run in Test cricket and making the first Test century. This innings of 165 remains the highest individual share of a completed team innings in Test cricket history, despite more than 2,000 Test matches being played since that first Test. Ironically in another first, he was forced to retire hurt; when a ball broke his finger. Early life Bannerman was born in Woolwich, Kent, England to William Bannerman and his wife Margaret. Not long afterwards the family migrated to New South Wales, Australia, where he joined the Warwick Cricket Club in Sydney. At the club he was trained by William Caffyn, a former Surrey cricketer who was then a representative of New South Wales. Bannerman started playing professional cricket in 1871, before making his first-class debut for New South Wales. In his first match, against Victoria, he made 32 and 3 runs. Test matches Bannerman played in the first three matches that were later designated as Test matches. The first of these, between Australia and England was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in March 1877 and Australia batted first. Bannerman opened the Australian innings and is thus retrospectively deemed to have had the honour of facing the first ball ever bowled in Test cricket (the bowler being England's Alfred Shaw) and scoring the first ever run in Test cricket. Dropped before he reached double figures, he went on to score 126 on the first day and then added 39 on the second day to reach 165 when he was forced to retire hurt, his finger having been broken by a ball from George Ulyett. Only Harry Jupp (England) scoring 54 on the second day bettered Charles Bannerman's 39 runs on the second day. Again retrospectively, his innings was the first-ever Test century. It remains the highest score by an Australian batsman on debut and his 165 runs, out of Australia's total of 245, is still the highest proportion (67.35%) of a completed innings in a Test match. No other Australian exceeded 20 in either innings,