Graham Onions enjoyed a dream Test Match debut as he helped England defeat the West Indies at Lord’s in 2009, the first time in four years that they had won at the Home of Cricket.
Onions arrived on the Test stage with a fine haul of 5 for 38, bowling only 9.3 overs in the Windies’ first innings, including taking three wickets in an over.
England had made 377 all out, Ravi Bopara top scoring with 143, and it was Onions who did the damage when the Windies launched their reply. Coming on second change, he overcame his early nerves to decimate the visitors’ line-up, who were dismissed for only 152 and followed on.
They were bowled out for 256 second time around, Onions taking two wickets, and England duly scored the 32 required for a ten-wicket victory.
Onions’ first innings haul were the best figures of a promising Test career that was blighted by injury, however he remained a prolific wicket-taker at county level.