2000
The start of one of the most amazing runs in Test history. Andy Flower lashed an unbeaten 183 for Zimbabwe in the first Test against India at Delhi, and in the following 13 months he scored 1436 runs with an average of 119.67, including five hundreds and seven fifties. Flower ended the year as the world's No. 1 batsman in the PWC ratings, but he returned to mortality as his first four innings in 2002 produced just 20 runs.

1995
A deluge at Centurion meant that no play was possible on the third day of the first Test between England and South Africa - and there was none on the last two days either. It was all very frustrating for England, who had worked themselves into a good position (381 for 9) on a lively surface in the inaugural Test at Centurion Park. Their dominance was thanks mainly to a majestic 141 from Graeme Hick, perhaps his best Test innings. After England were put in and reduced to 64 for 3, Hick oozed authority against a top-notch attack (Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Craig Matthews, Brett Schultz and Brian McMillan), slamming 25 fours. It took Hick's average up to 39 and it looked for all the world as if he had cracked Test cricket. But as it transpired it was another false dawn - Hick played 27 Tests after this, in which he averaged only 20.

1988
A familiar story on the first morning of the Australia-West Indies series at Brisbane, where Australia were demolished for 167 inside 70 overs. The wiles of Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh were all too much for the Aussies, while Carl Hooper chipped in with the wicket of top-scorer Mike Veletta. Gordon Greenidge and Des Haynes put things in context by adding 135 for the first wicket, their 13th century opening partnership in Tests. Viv Richards, in his 100th Test, flogged a 78-ball 68 to ram home the advantage, and then Walsh, who had dismissed Tony Dodemaide with the last ball of the first innings, snared Veletta and Graham Wood with his first two deliveries of the second to complete an unusual hat-trick, the first in Tests for 12 years and the first ever to involve both innings. West Indies cruised to a nine-wicket win with a day and a half to spare.

1987
England squeezed past Pakistan by two wickets in the sort of game that gives one-day cricket a bad name. There were no fifties, only 23 fours in 85 overs, and general tedium all round. Abdul Qadir led Pakistan for the first time, but it was another spinner, John Emburey, who took the match award for a spell of 8.3-2-17-3. That restricted Pakistan to 166, and although England almost blew it, Phil DeFreitas and Bruce French added an unbroken 27 for the eighth wicket to see them home with three balls to spare

1993
A rare one-day tie. Zimbabwe needed 249 to beat India in their Hero Cup match at Indore, but they looked dead in the water at 212 for 8. But Stephen Peall and Heath Streak (batting right down at No.10) took them to within 12 of victory, and Streak and John Rennie were left needing 10 off Manoj Prabhakar's final over. Two were needed off the final ball, but Streak was run out going for a second leg-bye. It was only the seventh tied ODI.

Other birthdays

1892 Rustomji Jamshedji (India)
1937 Rajinder Pal (India)
1954 Evan Gray (New Zealand)
1973 Nic Pothas (South Africa)

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