1957
The best bowling performance in Test history - according to the Wisden 100. Hugh Tayfield tops the list for his matchwinning efforts in the fourth Test against England at Johannesburg today. England needed 232 to take a 3-0 lead with one to play and were crusing at 147 for 2, but Tayfield chipped away and ended up with 9 for 113. He bowled throughout the last day, sending down 35 eight-ball overs in a row. With England still 17 runs adrift, Tayfield had Peter Loader caught on the boundary by his brother Arthur, who was fielding as substitute. "Toey" was chaired off the field, and for good measure he took a six-for in the next match to give South Africa an unlikely share of the series.

1958
The start of the longest Test innings of all time, Hanif Mohammad's 970-minute marathon for Pakistan at Bridgetown. Following on 473 runs in arrears, Hanif ground down West Indies' bowlers on his way to 337 made over three days as the match ended in a draw. Hanif disputes his record, maintaining that he actually batted for 999 minutes. His captain, Abdul Kardar, encouraged him by leaving notes saying "You are our only hope," and "Keeping fighting. Don't give up," stuck to his bedroom mirror.

1963
The end of the road for two of Australia's greatest cricketers. Neil Harvey finished off with a brace of twenties, and Alan Davidson with six wickets, in the drawn fifth Test against England at Sydney. The series ended 1-1: the first five-match series in Australia to be drawn. Harvey closed with 6149 runs, and Davidson with 1328 runs and 186 wickets, the last - AC Smith, caught by Bobby Simpson - with his final ball.

Click here for video of Harvey's final innings

1993
Graeme Hick turned his long-overdue maiden Test hundred into an outstanding 178 at Bombay. Assertive, clean and at times brutal, it was a showcase of everything that was good about Hick. But three Tests later he was dropped. His fault, or the selectors? When you look at his post-178, pre-axe scores, you'd have to say the latter: 47, 68, 26, 34, 22, 20 and 64. As for the match, England's ignominious spinwash (46 wickets out of 60 fell to Kumble, Raju and Chauhan) was completed by another innings defeat. Vinod Kambli (remember him?) trumped Hick by turning his maiden Test ton into 224.

1949
A rotund offspinner is born. It's hard to imagine Eddie Hemmings thriving in the modern, three-dimensional era, but in his day he served England well. Six of his 16 Tests came in his Indian summer of 1990, when he took his only five-for to help England to an important win over New Zealand, and was famously belted for four successive sixes by Kapil Dev at Lord's. He could bat too, and made 95 as a nightwatchman at Sydney in 1982-83.

1974
The seventh-highest first-class innings of all time. Pakistani Aftab Baloch amassed the small matter of 428 batting for Sind against Baluchistan today. Baloch was already familiar with the record books: when he made his Test debut, aged 16 years 221 days, he was the second-youngest player in Test history. He averaged 48.5, but played only two Tests, and ended with a blistering 60 not out against West Indies at Lahore in 1974-75, a match that finished today and is better remembered for …

1975
… a matchsaving debut century for left-handed West Indian opener Len Baichan. Baichan batted throughout the last day, ending unbeaten on 105, and seemed to be set for a long career at the top. Not so. Roy Fredericks was already established, and with Gordon Greenidge also just on the scene, Baichan was left looking for scraps. He found some in the last Test in Australia that winter, when he was pitched in against Lillee and Thomson at No. 3, but scores of 3 and 20 were his last entries at the top level. He finished with an average of 46.

Other birthdays
1857 Bunny Lucas (England)
1873 Dante Parkin (South Africa)
1926 Ted Meuli (New Zealand)
1976 Akhtar Sarfraz (Pakistan)

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