1987
The end of one of the most fractious matches in Test history. Pakistan and England drew the second Test at Faisalabad, but all anybody ever remembers is the ugly finger-wagging, expletive-laden face-off between England captain Mike Gatting and umpire Shakoor Rana. Rana refused to restart the match without an apology from Gatting - there was no play on the scheduled third day as a result, and the tour was almost called off.

1981
A day for insomniacs. Sunil Gavaskar began what was to be then the longest innings by any Indian batsman in first-class cricket when he made 172 in 708 minutes against England in the second Test at Bangalore. The record he beat was his own (593 minutes making 166 against Pakistan in 1980). Gavaskar was on the field for all but four balls of the match. Some would say it served him right.

1964
Matthew Fleming, who was born today, might have felt he was a little hard done by in missing the 1999 World Cup. He played 11 matches in the lead-up, and did extremely well: he was central to England's shock Sharjah triumph in 1997-98 and performed heroically in the Caribbean a couple of months later. In the second match he had a hand in five consecutive dismissals with three wickets, a catch and a brilliant run out.

1996
India clinched a 2-1 victory over South Africa with a big win in the deciding third Test at Kanpur. On a grossly undercooked wicket the match-winning hand came from Mohammad Azharuddin: a scintillating, unbeaten 163. Left chasing 461 to win, South Africa were hustled to a 280-run defeat. It was their first series defeat (they lost a one-off Test in West Indies in 1991-92) since returning to Test cricket.

1954
Birth of the tragic Wilf Slack, who died suddenly of a heart attack while playing on a tour in The Gambia in 1989. He was only 34. Slack, a left-handed opener who was very successful with Middlesex, played two of his three Tests, and made his only fifty, in the West Indies - where he was born - in 1985-86 having been called up as a replacement when Mike Gatting had his face rearranged by Malcolm Marshall.

1995
Pakistan overcame a typically farcical first-day collapse to crush New Zealand by 161 runs in the one-off Test at Christchurch. They slipped from 135 for 0 to 208 all out as a flurry of batsmen tossed their wickets away, but they showed greater application second time round, batting for 145 overs in making 434. That gave them a lead of 366, enough leeway for Mushtaq Ahmed (7 for 56) to wreak havoc and spin the Kiwis to defeat.

1925
A workhorse is born. Dattu Phadkar gave unstinting service to India in the 1940s and '50s as an attacking lower middle-order batsman and an indefatigable swing bowler. His trademark figures were 1 for 40 off 20, but he did manage three five-fors, including 7 for 159 against West Indies at Chennai in 1948-49. He died in Madras in 1985.

1980
West Indies sent Pakistan to their first defeat in a Faisalabad Test, a match notable for a sadistic assault from Sylvester Clarke. Batting at No. 11, he smeared 35 off 18 balls including four sixes - three of which came off successive deliveries from Mohammad Nazir. A low-scoring dogfight was also notable for a couple of masterclasses from Viv Richards. He cracked 72 and 67 in a match where no other West Indian reached 50.

1992
Blind panic set in as Pakistan lost by four runs to West Indies in the World Series match at Adelaide. Chasing 178 to win, they were cruising at 142 for 3 when Javed Miandad was dismissed, and Pakistan fell apart. In all five batsmen were run out - equalling the ODI record - and they lost their last seven wickets for 25 runs in 37 balls.

Other birthdays
1860 Billy Newham (England)
1879 Roger Hartigan (Australia)
1887 Nigel Haig (England)
1904 Jim Christy (South Africa)
1914 Denis Begbie (South Africa)
1925 Ghulam Guard (India)
1952 Ajit de Silva (Sri Lanka)
1960 Amal Silva (Sri Lanka)
1967 Masood Anwar (Pakistan)
1973 Michael di Venuto (Australia)
1978 James Kamande (Kenya)
1981 Yuvraj Singh (India)

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd