1929
One of the most talented of all postwar cricketers was born. There was something about Peter May that set him apart, both as a classy and punishing batsman (Test average 46.77) and as a ruthless and successful England captain in 41 consecutive matches. His highest Test score, an unbeaten 285 in a record stand of 411 with Colin Cowdrey at Edgbaston in 1957, saved England against West Indies and broke Sonny Ramadhin's spell once and for all. May's sudden retirement from Test cricket (he was only 31) was followed, decades later, by some rather mixed success as chairman of the England selectors. He died of a brain tumour in Hampshire in 1994.

1976
A slaphead is born. It's hard to imagine Matthew Hoggard without a freshly-shaven pate, and it was becoming just as hard to imagine an England XI without him until he was dropped following a serious crisis of confidence - not his first - on the 2002-03 Ashes tour. Hoggard made his debut in the Lord's Test of 2000, and after a successful schooling on the subcontinent in tour matches in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, he became England's premier seam bowler when Messrs Gough and Caddick pulled out of the tour of India in 2001-02.

1920
The story goes that when a Mrs Park bent down to pick up her knitting today, she missed her husband's entire international career as a batsman! Exhausted after having to attend a difficult birth the night before, Dr Roy Park was bowled by the only ball he ever faced in Test cricket. Even without his contribution, Australia beat England by an innings at Melbourne.

1981
Ask county batsmen of the time which fast bowler they least wanted to face, and most would have answered Sylvester Clarke. He didn't make the same impact in Tests, though a spectator at Multan might have disagreed. This was the day the combustible Clarke chose to show his irritation with the surfeit of oranges the Pakistani crowd were showering him with. Picking up a brick that was being used as a boundary marker, he started a minor riot by scoring a direct hit on the head of a local student leader. County batsmen knew the feeling.

1958
Better known for batting all day in a Test match, Geoff Marsh (who was born today) achieved the unique feat of winning the World Cup as a player (1987) and coach (1999). He and Mark Taylor were inseparable throughout a day's play at Trent Bridge in 1989, Marsh making 138 (his highest Test score) out of an eventual stand of 329, which is still an Ashes record for the first wicket.

1995
Australian Test opener Matthew Elliott achieved the very rare feat of completing two first-class hundreds on the same day, carrying his bat for 104 in the first innings then scoring 135 in the second as Victoria followed on against Western Australia at Perth.

1964
Winston Benjamin, who was born today, had the bit of devil that marked out many of his West Indian peers as great fast bowlers, but he only ever really attained the ranks of the good. Short and whippy, in 21 Tests (spread over nearly eight years) he never took a five-for and never took the new ball. He could give the ball a fearful thump - he smeared a run-a-ball 85 off New Zealand in 1994-95 - and he even won a Test with the bat. It was a crucial one too: in 1987-88 he preserved West Indies' status as the world's best with a crucial 40 not out in a series-levelling two-wicket win over Pakistan in Barbados.

1965
Having the names of three Hindu deities in your surname doesn't automatically mean the gods are going to smile on you. Legspinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, who was born today, was only 17 when he made his Test debut for India, against West Indies in Antigua in 1982-83, so he could be forgiven figures of 0 for 95 from 25 overs. But he never lived up to his youthful promise. Despite taking 12 wickets to beat England at Bombay in 1984-85, he played in only nine Tests and took 26 wickets at 44.03 each. He is now a pundit on Wisden's Indian TV show.

1892
Medium-pacer and willing workhorse Jimmy Blanckenberg was born. South Africa's most successful bowler against Australia in 1921-22 and especially against England, in 1913-14 and again in 1922-23, when he took 6 for 76 to help win the first Test at Johannesburg. He died around 1955 - but nobody knows exactly when. He is listed in the Wisden Almanack as "presumed dead".

Other birthdays
1935 Peter Allan (Australia)
1939 Afaq Hussain (Pakistan)
1941 Amritsar Milkha Singh (India)
1979 Malinga Bandara (Sri Lanka)

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd