1952
Birth of the man who called Murali. Australian umpire Darrell Hair has never been afraid of courting controversy, and he certainly did so when he no-balled Muttiah Muralitharan during the second Test at Melbourne in 1995-96. Hair followed up by slating Murali's action in his autobiography, and he also called Grant Flower for throwing during the Test between Zimbabwe and New Zealand at Bulawayo in 2000-01. Hair was the neutral umpire during some of the defining moments of Test cricket in the 1990s: Brian Lara's 375, Mike Atherton's 185, Courtney Walsh's 500th Test wicket. The last milestone, when Hair gave Jacques Kallis lbw despite a clear inside-edge, shows that like all humans he is not immune from error, and he was infamously rebuked by Mark Ramprakash after a poor decision in the second Test between England and South Africa. Murali would doubtless tell Ramps that his is not the only career that Hair has messed with.

1922
Only 15 Tests for West Indian Allan Rae, who was born today, but his fleeting stay at the top level had nothing to do with a lack of quality. Rae averaged 46 between 1948 and 1953, when the demands of his burgeoning legal career in Jamaica caused him to retire from the first-class game. At Chennai in 1948-49 he added 239 for the first wicket with Jeff Stollmeyer, a West Indian record that stood until 1982-83. But probably his best innings came at Lord's in 1950, where his 106 laid a foundation for Ramadhin and Valentine to bowl West Indies to a famous first win in England. Rae went on to become a respected administrator and president of the West Indies Cricket Board between 1981 and 1988.

1994
An unwanted milestone for Mark Taylor at Karachi. When he was caught behind off Waqar Younis, Taylor became the first person to bag a pair in his first Test as captain. But in time Pakistan would become a happier hunting-ground: four years later Taylor hit 334 at Peshawar to equal Don Bradman's Australian Test record, before declaring on himself with Brian Lara's 375 in sight.

1869
Birth of the first man to be no-balled in a Test for throwing. Australian Ernie Jones was a fearsome fast bowler who took 64 wickets in his 19 Tests and took England apart at Lord's in 1899. Legend also has it that he bowled a short one that passed through WG Grace's beard in response to derisory comments from the Doctor. Jones was first called for throwing against England at Melbourne in 1897-98. After that there were repeated murmurings about his action, but in the Wisden Almanack Sir Stanley Jackson, the former England captain, described such aspersions as "absolutely absurd". Jones died in Adelaide in November 1943.

1946
Birth of the dashing Australian Paul Sheahan, who never quite fulfilled his early promise at the top level. A sparkling 81 on debut against India at Adelaide in 1967-68 spoke volumes about his talent, but he never quite mastered the art of crease occupation and his 31 Tests brought only two hundreds. The first was a delightful, chanceless 114 at Kanpur in 1969-70. And after the second - against Pakistan on an MCG featherbed in 1972-73 - the Wisden Almanack said he was "apparently entrenched as the opener Australia had sought for several seasons". But he played just two more Tests, the last at 27 in New Zealand in 1973-74. He retired to teaching and is now headmaster of Melbourne High School.

1969
Slow torture for New Zealand at Bombay. Chasing 188 to win the first Test against India, they were skittled for 127 with Bishan Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna sharing all ten wickets and 63.5 of the 69 overs bowled in the innings. Serious rioting in Ahmedabad had forced the match to be switched to Bombay, and it was another 14 years before Ahmedabad became the 56th Test venue.

1865
The South African left-arm seamer James Middleton, who was born today, was best known for his nickname `Bonnor'. It reflected the similarity, in style if not quality, between his batting and that of the meaty Australian hitter George Bonnor. Middleton played only six Tests and South Africa lost the lot, despite his 24 wickets at 18.42. His debut at Port Elizabeth in 1895-96 - in which he returned match figures of 9 for 130 but saw his side thrashed by England by 288 runs - was symptomatic of a bitter-sweet career at the top level.

1997
Persistent crowd trouble in Karachi forced the umpires to reduce the second one-day international between Pakistan and India to 47 overs per side. And it was India who triumphed by four wickets to square the series, despite a typically brutal performance from Shahid Afridi. He smeared 72 off 56 balls but the Man of the Match was Sourav Ganguly, whose cool 89 led India past their target of 266 with three balls to spare.

Other birthdays
1961 Chandrakant Pandit (India)
1972 Ian Ward (England)

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