1994
A feeling of déjà vu pervaded Brisbane, as England promised much but again failed to deliver in the first Test of an Ashes series. From the moment Michael Slater slapped the first ball of the series, from Phil DeFreitas, behind point for four, the fare was wearingly familiar. England's nervousness was best epitomised by a shambolic display from Martin McCague, in for Devon Malcolm who had chicken-pox. Michael Slater creamed 176 before he was out to one of Test cricket's more elderly combinations - c Gatting b Gooch - and then England subsided for 167 on a perfectly good pitch. Mark Taylor did not enforce the follow-on, and eventually set England 508 to win in just over five sessions. They closed the fourth day on 211 for 2 after a brilliant partnership between Graeme Hick and Graham Thorpe, but the inevitable Shane Warne ended the nonsense on a worn fifth-day track, scything through with figures 50.2-22-71-8 to send England spinning to a 184-run defeat.

1994
New Zealand stunned South Africa with a 137-run victory in the first Test between the sides since March 1964. Martin Crowe set the tempo on the first day with an uncompromising 83, his last significant Test innings, and New Zealand eventually got to 411. That was enough for a lead of 132, despite 93 from Dave Richardson, but when the Kiwis then slipped from 32 for 1 to 34 for 5, South Africa were back in the game. But the tail all chipped in to set a target of 327, and the home side never really got close. They slipped to 189 all out, with left-arm spinner Matthew Hart taking the only five-for of his largely unfulfilled 14-Test career.

1988
Another shock New Zealand win, this time at Bombay, where they squared the series with a 136-run victory over India in the second Test. After spinning New Zealand to defeat in the first Test, India prepared a repeat dustbowl (their second seamer Rashid Patel bowled only 14 overs in his only Test appearance), but central to their plan was winning the toss. They didn't and New Zealand, batting first, grabbed a slender first-innings lead thanks to 52 from John Bracewell and 6 for 49 from Richard Hadlee. Bracewell was at it again in the second innings (New Zealand's last two wickets put on 176 in the match, critical in a low-scoring game), and India were left chasing 282 to win. Bracewell (6 for 51) and the irresistible Hadlee (4 for 39) bowled them to defeat.

1987
The end of a fascinating first Test between India and West Indies at Delhi, the narrative of which twisted and turned from the start. Winston Davis and Patrick Patterson blew the Indians away for 75, but soon West Indies were 49 for 7 themselves as Kapil Dev and Chetan Sharma struck back. Desmond Haynes lifted West Indies to a lead of 52, but when Dilip Vengsarkar made a seven-hour 102, West Indies were left with a very tricky target of 276. At 111 for 4, with Arshad Ayub finding plenty of turn, the game was up for grabs. Step forward Viv Richards – his majestic, unbeaten 109, made from only 111 balls, took West Indies to a five-wicket win.

1993
A Tasmanian thrashing for New Zealand, who lost the second Test against Australia at Hobart by an innings and 222 runs. Michael Slater, David Boon and Mark Waugh all made hundreds before Shane Warne and Tim May, with 16 wickets between them, spun the Kiwis to death. In a sense New Zealand only had themselves to blame, because they picked a farcical line-up, which had Dipak Patel and Chris Harris batting at Nos 5 and 6, and Danny Morrison, the self-styled duck king, at No. 9. It was New Zealand's heaviest Test defeat ... for 15 months, anyway. In February 1995 they were butchered by an innings and 322 runs by Courtney Walsh and West Indies.

2000
Oops, he did it again. Andy Flower saved Zimbabwe's bacon after they followed on in the second Test against India at Nagpur with a mighty unbeaten 232. It remains the highest Test score by a wicketkeeper, and took Flower's average above 50 for the first time. Since then he has blossomed even further, and if he keeps up his current form for much longer his average will be pushing 60. This high-scoring draw – there were 1494 runs for the loss of only 22 wickets - gave India the two-match series 1-0.

1984
Twin tons for Javed Miandad as Pakistan eased to an seven-wicket win in the second Test against New Zealand at Hyderabad. A slow turner offered many bizarre sights: Mudassar Nazar and Martin Crowe opened the bowling (Crowe snared Mohsin Khan and Qasim Omar with successive deliveries in the second innings), and Zaheer Abbas took two of his three Test wickets. The pitch was tricky, but if you got in you could make it count (only five batsmen made 50; four went on to reach three figures), and Javed did exactly that to give Pakistan an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Other birthdays 1962 Sadanand Viswanath (India)
1969 Craig Evans (Zimbabwe)
1977 Younis Khan (Pakistan)

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