1956
Birth of Desmond Haynes, who with Gordon Greenidge formed one of the greatest opening partnerships of all time. They put together 16 century stands in Tests, with Haynes usually playing the sedate straight man to Greenidge's slayer. Haynes was also a superb one-day batsman, a master at pacing an innings (11 of his 17 ODI centuries were unbeaten, and 16 of them came in a winning cause), and no West Indian has scored more than his 8648 pyjama runs. He made three fifties in his first three Test innings, and also three hundreds in a row against England and Pakistan in 1990. Haynes, who also played for Middlesex, was a generally happy and popular character, but he could mix it - in his first Test as captain, covering for the injured Viv Richards in Trinidad in 1990, he had a shouting match with Alec Stewart and denied England victory with blatant time-wasting tactics.

1961
The end of probably the greatest Test series of all. Australia needed 257 to beat West Indies in the fifth Test at the MCG and take the series 2-1. At 154 for 2, it looked a formality, but Frank Worrell and Alf Valentine dragged the Windies back into it, and at 236 for 6 it was anyone's game. But the Aussies had "Slasher" Mackay coming in at No. 8, and with two wickets left, he and Johnny Martin scrambled the winning leg-bye just before the close of the penultimate day. After such a mesmeric series, the Windies were given a fitting farewell: a new trophy, for which the countries still compete, was established bearing Worrell's name, and the whole team were given a tickertape farewell parade through Melbourne.

1932
A one-day Test may be a contradiction, but - in real terms at least - that's what happened at the MCG today. Australia hammered South Africa by an innings, and in all the match (which because of bad weather was spread over three days) lasted only five hours, 53 minutes. The South Africans were routed for just 36 and 42, with left-arm spinner Bert Ironmonger taking 5 for 6 and 6 for 18: his 11 for 24 is the cheapest ten-wicket haul in a Test. Clarrie Grimmett couldn't even get a bowl. In all there were 234 runs scored, the lowest aggregate in Test history for a complete match.

1921
For such a dominant team, it's quite that strange that Australia can boast only one of the top 20 individual bowling performances in Tests. That entry came today, when Arthur Mailey took 9 for 121 against England at Melbourne (it's also 12th in the Wisden 100). This fourth Test, which Australia won by eight wickets to go 4-0 up, was also notable for a remarkable performance from Warwick Armstrong, who overcame an attack of malaria to make an unbeaten 123.

1998
A Test century from a No. 10. Pat Symcox today became only the third man to achieve the feat, and the first for 96 years, when he whacked 108 against Pakistan at Johannesburg. He also added a Test-record 195 for the ninth wicket with Mark Boucher.

1980
Another world record, this time for England wicketkeeper Bob Taylor in the Golden Jubilee Test at Bombay. He took seven catches in the first innings, and 10 in the match. Both were records, although Jack Russell topped the latter record with 11 catches at Johannesburg in 1995-96.

1965
Birth of the niggardly South African seamer Craig Matthews, part of the fearsome foursome (Allan Donald, Fanie de Villiers and Brian McMillan were the others) who demolished England for 99 at Lord's in 1994. Matthews took 3 for 25 in that innings, and earlier in the match flashed an initiative-seizing 41 off 36 balls. His record was a good one - 52 wickets at 28 - but he played his last Test at the age of 30, against England in 1995-96. His final figures - 1 for 29 off 19 overs - summed up his thriftiness.

1993
Another thrashing for England on their horror tour of the subcontinent. Here they went down to India by an innings and 22 runs in the second Test at Madras. Their captain Graham Gooch pulled out after eating a dodgy prawn curry, and England were never in the game once India piled up 560 for 6 declared. As in the first Test, there were 17 wickets for India's three spinners, Anil Kumble, Venkatapathy Raju and Rajesh Chauhan. There was also a first, and only, Test hundred for Chris Lewis - on his 25th birthday - but that was about all England had to cheer.

1992
Ian Botham's highest one-day score. Thrust up the order for the pre-World Cup one-day series in New Zealand, Botham belted a strapping 79 off 73 balls in the third match at Christchurch as England put the seal on an impressive clean sweep. Botham was one of the first pinch-hitters, and England carried their plan into the World Cup, although he only made one fifty. Typically enough, it was against Australia.

Other birthdays
1878 Jack Sharp (England)
1959 Guy de Alwis (Sri Lanka)
1979 Hamish Marshall (New Zealand)

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