1975
Perhaps the most audacious innings in Test history. Australia thumped West Indies in five out of six Tests in this series, but in the second match at the WACA Roy Fredericks led West Indies to an innings victory with an astonishing display. Only a fool gives Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson as good as he gets on a Perth flyer, but Fredericks did exactly that and smacked them all round the park. Even though they were eight-ball overs, their figures of 37-0-251-5 were not a pretty sight, and at lunch on the second day West Indies were 130 for 1 - from 14 overs. Fredericks flayed 50 off 33 balls; 100 in 71; in all he faced only 145 deliveries in all for his 169.

1974
Four days earlier 42-year-old Colin Cowdrey was sitting at home in Kent looking forward to Christmas. But an injury crisis led to his being summoned to Australia to reinforce the beleaguered English tourists, and Cowdrey barely had time to get over jetlag before he was thrown in at deep end in the second Test at Perth against a rampant Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. Cowdrey made 22 and 41 and famously reduced Thomson to incredulous silence when he arrived at the wicket and politely introduced himself with a cheery, "Hello, I'm Colin Cowdrey, I don't believe we've met".

1999
England recovered from 2 for 4 and all that with a rough, tough draw in the second Test at Port Elizabeth. Nasser Hussain led from the front, pounding 82 - his first three scoring strokes were 4, 6 and 6 - and 70 not out. There were also tons for Mike Atherton and Lance Klusener (a mighty 174) in a match that ended tempestuously with four of England's six second-innings victims sawn-off by poor decisions.

1997
Dougie Brown versus Brian Lara might not seem like the fairest contest in cricket history, but Brown won this one when he trapped Lara lbw for a second-ball duck in the Sharjah match between England and West Indies. Brown had bowled Philo Wallace with the first ball of the match, so West Indies found themselves 0 for 2 in the first over. A Carl Hooper century got them to 197 for 7, but a resurgent England eased to victory by four wickets with 25 balls to spare.

1970
An enigma is born. Basit Ali made his debut for Pakistan in the unofficial world championship duel with West Indies in 1992-93, and looked a class act as the rest of the batsmen surrendered lamely to Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop. But as so often happens with Pakistani prodigies his star faded quickly.

1985
Having suffered humiliating defeats by England and New Zealand in the previous four months, Australia heralded a new era by giving debuts to Merv Hughes, Geoff Marsh and Bruce Reid in the first Test against India. All three would play key roles in the rebirth of Australian cricket, as would one SR Waugh, who took his bow in the next match. The match was a dull, high-scoring draw on a typical Adelaide shirtfront, notable mainly for Sunil Gavaskar becoming the first man to reach 9000 Test runs in the course of a grand unbeaten 166.

1970
Greg Chappell, batting at No.7, illuminated his Test debut with a glorious 108 in the drawn second Test between Australia and England at Perth. There were also tons for Brian Luckhurst, in his second Test, John Edrich and Ian Redpath, while Bill Lawry reached 5000 Test runs in the second innings.

1988
An ominous portent for Craig McDermott at Sydney. Australia needed two runs off the last ball to beat West Indies after a cracking one-dayer when McDermott slapped a Curtly Ambrose full toss to mid-wicket. Five years later, with infinitely more at stake, West Indies clinched the first one-run win in Test history when he had Australia's last man - McDermott again - caught behind in the fourth Test at Adelaide.

Other birthdays
1850 Frederick Grace (England)
1947 Les Joslin (Australia)

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