1995
Mike Atherton's finest hour. Nobody gave England a prayer when they were set 479 to win or 165 overs to survive by South Africa in the second Test at Johannesburg. But Atherton was still there at the bitter end after 643 minutes and 492 balls of gallant resistance. He made 185 not out, his highest Test score, and got through the last two sessions with Jack Russell, who drove the South Africans to distraction with a 235-ball 29. It was a great match for Russell, who took a Test record 11 catches in the match, and he and Atherton shared the Man-of-the-Match award. Draws do not come more glorious than this.

1950
The Gabba hosted one of the most extraordinary days in Test history. There were 102 runs and 20 wickets after lunch as England and Australia fought to let each other have use of the stickiest of rain-affected wickets at Brisbane. They could hardly declare quickly enough. Australia eventually won by 70 runs - thanks mainly to getting their first innings in before the damaging storm - in spite of a brilliant 62 not out from Len Hutton

1974
England were blown away on a Brisbane flyer by Jeff Thomson, who took nine wickets in only his second Test as England were thrashed by 166 runs. England went to Australia to defend the Ashes with a battle-hardened top seven (Amiss, Luckhurst, Edrich, Denness, Fletcher, Greig, Knott), and they were not especially worried about the threat of the Aussie quick men: nobody had hear of Thomson, and Dennis Lillee was just recovering from a horrendous back injury. But Thomson rattled them big time and dismissed all of them bar Fletcher at least once in the match. In addition, Amiss and Edrich sustained fractures - and by the fourth Test the captain Denness had decided to drop himself. In the end Australia regained the Ashes with a crushing 4-1 victory.

1946
Australia's biggest-ever victory. They overwhelmed England by an innings and 332 runs in the first Test at Brisbane. Don Bradman cracked 187, having been controversially not out early in his innings, to lead the Aussies to 645 before Keith Miller (7 for 60) in the first innings, and Ernie Toshack (6 for 82) in the second, hurried England to a humiliating defeat.

1985
A historic day for New Zealand, who won their first series against Australia and became the first holders of the Trans-Tasman Trophy. They took the third Test at Perth by six wickets with ten overs to spare. It wasn't always pretty - New Zealand's first-innings 299 took 157 overs - but it was historic, and in a big game the Kiwis' big guns delivered: Richard Hadlee took 11 for 155 (making it 33 in the three-match series) and Martin Crowe hit 113 runs for once out.

1964
The most one-sided match in cricket history. At Lahore, Railways smashed Dera Ismail Khan by a staggering innings and 851 runs. They made 910 for 6 declared, and then skittled DIK for 32 and 27. Afaq Khan took 7 for 14 in the first innings, but he couldn't even get a bowl in the second as Ahad Khan (6.3-4-7-9) finished things off almost single-handedly.

1977
Birth of a man who fell prey to Steve Waugh's mental disintegration tactics like no other. Indian seamer Ajit Agarkar is a useful enough batsman to have creamed 67 off 25 balls in an ODI, but in his last seven Test innings against the Aussies he has not managed a single run. In Australia in 1999-2000 he followed four consecutive golden ducks with a second-baller. For good measure, he added a pair at Mumbai in the first Test against the Aussies in 2000-01, though at least here he survived 12 and 15 balls.

1995
A familiar dead-rubber defeat for Australia under Mark Taylor as Pakistan grabbed a 74-run victory, their first in Australia for 14 years, in the third Test at Sydney. The two Ahmeds, Ijaz (137) and Mushtaq (9 for 186 in the match), were the matchwinners. Under Taylor, Australia were notorious for slackening off when the job was done, and they lost four out of seven final Tests of a series which they had already won. This was also Australia's seventh Test without a victory at Sydney.

1858
Birth of Billy Gunn, who played 11 Tests for England before going on to found the famous Gunn & Moore batmaking firm. He was a technically impeccable batsman in an age when batting was rarely easy, and he made the first Test hundred at Old Trafford, against Australia in 1893. He also gained two soccer caps for England. Gunn died in Nottinghamshire in 1921.

1996
Sun stopped play at Gujranawala, where the first one-dayer between Pakistan and New Zealand had to be reduced to 46 overs a side because of sun shining in the batsmen's eyes. Pakistan won a tight encounter by 11 runs, thanks to a quickfire 52 from Wasim Akram and 5 for 44 from Saqlain Mushtaq.

1910
Few Indian cricketers have played with as much of a swagger as Amar Singh, who was born today. A strapping allrounder and brilliant fielder, his bowling was described by Wally Hammond as coming off the pitch "like a crack of doom". Amar Singh played only seven Tests, though, before dying of pneumonia at the age of 29.

Other birthdays
1915 Fred Freer (Australia)
1935 Fred Rumsey (England)
1977 Shahid Nazir (Pakistan)

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