On 31st January 2021 when Adam Hastilow castled the Nelson College opener with his very first ball it triggered a spectator enquiry, “I wonder how many times this has happened — a wicket with the first ball of a Test match?”
It has happened four times in New Zealand and they are as follows:
⬛ Ted Badcock for NZ v England at Lancaster Park, 1933
⬛ Richard Hadlee for NZ v Australia at Eden Park, 1974
⬛ Geoff Arnold for England v NZ at Lancaster Park, 1975
⬛ Richard Hadlee for NZ v India at McLean Park, 1990
To date 32 bowlers have achieved this feat, the last being Jimmy Anderson in 2019. Others who have emulated Sir Richard in doing the feat twice are Geoff Arnold, Kapil Dev and Suranga Lakmal.
There is one bowler who has done it three times, Pedro Collins, who played 32 tests for the West Indies between 1999 and 2006. Remarkably, all three were against the same unfortunate batsman, Bangladeshi opener Hannan Sarkar!