1981
Australia needed only 151 to win at Edgbaston - but Ian Botham was lying in wait again. After his heroics with the bat at Headingley, he engineered another astonishing finish by taking five wickets for one run. England's narrow win put them 2-1 up in "Botham's Ashes".

1977
In Ian Botham's Test debut and Geoff Boycott's comeback, England completed their first win over Australia at Trent Bridge since 1930. After a painstaking hundred in the first innings, Boycott was unbeaten on 80 when England took a 2-0 lead on their way to regaining the Ashes.

1985
Against Australia at Old Trafford, David Gower scored his 5000th run in Test cricket. Although the match was drawn, this was the blond man's golden summer. Captain of a team that regained the Ashes 3-1, he scored 732 runs at an average of 81.33.

1970
West Indies' hair-raising opening batsman Philo Wallace was born. In his one successful series, against England in 1997-98, he scored 61 and 92 (his only Test fifties) and shared some spectacular stands with Clayton Lambert.

2000
Sri Lanka needed only 177 runs at home to take a winning 2-0 lead – and they were on home ground at Kandy. But South Africa took their last four wickets for eight runs to win the match by just seven. A draw in the third Test left the series drawn.

1887
Top-class South African wicketkeeper Tommy Ward was born. In a 12-year Test career, he made 32 dismissals, including 13 stumpings, and made some useful runs, including two fifties. Mind you, he didn't look much of a batsman on his debut, in a Triangular Tournament match against Australia at Old Trafford in 1912. When Jimmy Matthews achieved the unique feat in Test cricket of taking a hat-trick in each innings, Ward was the third victim each time. He therefore made a pair on his Test debut.

1895
Birth of Matthew Henderson. In New Zealand's inaugural Test, against England in 1929-30, he took a wicket with his first ball, opener Eddie Dawson caught by New Zealand captain Tom Lowry. The wicket of the gifted Duleepsinhji was Henderson's second and last: he played in only this one Test.

Other birthdays
1928 Malcolm Hilton (England)
1931 Eddie Fuller (South Africa)
1958 Arshad Ayub (India)
1976 Mohammad Zahid (Pakistan)

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd