1900
Birth of one of the most voracious run-getters in cricket history. Australian Bill Ponsford was a rock-solid opener with immense powers of concentration -- he is the only man to make two quadruple-centuries (the first of which came in only his fourth first-class innings, for Victoria against Tasmania in 1922-23) and averaged 83 in the Sheffield Shield. "Ponny" also made centuries in his first two Tests, and though for a time he played Atherton to Harold Larwood's McGrath, he recovered to score 181 and 266 (when he put on 451 for the second wicket with Don Bradman) in consecutive innings at Headingley and The Oval in 1934. Having proved himself to an English audience that had until then been underwhelmed by the hype surrounding him, he retired from first-class cricket at 34. He went on to become Australia's oldest living Test player at 90, before dying in Victoria in 1991.

1998
Australia stayed on course for their first series win in Pakistan since 1959-60, when a draw in the second Test at Peshawar left them 1-0 up with one to play. The match was notable for Mark Taylor's unbeaten 334 -- he declared on himself at the end of the second day -- which equalled the highest Test score by an Australian, made by Don Bradman at Headingley in 1930. As the match petered out on the final day Taylor made 92 to become only the second man to score 400 runs in a Test, after Graham Gooch, who made 333 and 123 for an aggregate of 456 against India at Lord's in 1990.

1933
The popular Australian Brian Booth, who was born today, was a fine middle-order bat who averaged 42 in Tests, and was an unusually decent, dignified character. After what proved to be his last Test -- he was captain when England stuffed the Aussies by an innings at Sydney in 1965-66 -- he stood outside the dressing-room and shook hands with every England player as he passed. He made five Test hundreds, but none in a winning cause (Australia won only five of his 29 Tests). Booth was a good allround sportsman, who played hockey for Australia at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He went to become a teacher, and then the first chairman of Australia's Youth Advisory Committee.

1989
England had an unlikely hero as they gained a modicum of revenge for the previous summer's 4-0 Ashes thrashing with a seven-wicket win over Australia in the Nehru Cup match at Hyderabad. Wayne Larkins gave a rare top-level glimpse of his considerable talent with a thumping 124. It gave England a victory that looked unlikely after Allan Border smote 84 off 44 balls, including three successive sixes off Gladstone Small and 42 in two overs from Small and Angus Fraser.

1982
Pakistan wrapped up a clean sweep with a nine-wicket victory in the third Test against Australia at Lahore -- only the second whitewash Australia suffered in the 20th century (the first was in South Africa in 1969-70). Worse still, the Aussies did not manage to bowl Pakistan out once. This victory, like the first two, was pretty routine: Javed Miandad and Mohsin Khan both made hundreds and Imran Khan bowled imperiously for match figures of 8 for 80.

1999
A hammering for a ragged West Indies against Pakistan at Sharjah. They were chasing 256, but collapsed pitifully and were dismissed for 117 inside 32 overs. Their chief destroyers were Yousuf Youhana, who for once let himself go and slashed a 46-ball 71, and Azhar Mahmood, who scythed through the lower order to take 6 for 18, the ninth-best one-day figures of all time. The Windies had needed to win to reach the final, which instead was contested by Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

1946
Birth of a late developer. Legspinner Bob Holland did not make his first-class debut for New South Wales until he was 32, and didn't play for Australia until he was 38. That was against the mighty West Indies in 1984-85, and in his third match, on a raging Sydney turner, he hurried them to defeat with match figures of 10 for 144. It was West Indies' first defeat in 28 Tests (and a sad final bow for Clive Lloyd), but by far the highlight of Holland's career. If it turned, he was a real threat (in three matches at Sydney he took 21 wickets) but he was largely impotent elsewhere -- his other eight Tests brought him only 13 wickets.

1987
A nerveless performance from Steve Waugh as Australia snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the World Cup match at Indore. New Zealand needed seven runs from Waugh's last over, with four wickets in hand, but the iceman had Martin Crowe caught at deep cover off the first ball and yorked Ian Smith with the second. Panic set in, and New Zealand managed only three runs off the over for the loss of three wickets -- so Australia squeaked home by three runs. It was one of three last-over wins for Australia in the tournament. The most famous -- their seven-run victory over England in the final -- was yet to come.

Other birthdays
1860 Affie Jarvis (Australia)
1865 Godfrey Cripps (South Africa)
1869 Audley Miller (England)
1914 Harold Gimblett (England)
1934 Des Hoare (Australia)
1943 Mike Findlay (West Indies)
1970 Chamara Dunusinghe (Sri Lanka)

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