1951
New Zealand's finest cricketer is born. Sir Richard Hadlee is up there with any fast bowler in the history of the game. And until Muttiah Muralitharan came along, nobody had done as much in such a modest team. Hadlee's success owed as much to nurture as nature, and his mastery of every nuance of fast bowling was total. Of his 431 Test wickets, one performance stands out. The Kiwis had never won a Test - let alone respect - in Australia when, at Brisbane in 1985-86, Hadlee sliced them open with 9 for 52 in the first innings and 15 wickets in the match. Test cricket's second ten-for in an innings would have been Hadlee's - had he not taken a fine catch to give Vaughan Brown his first Test wicket. For its selflessness, Frank Keating described it as "the catch of the century". Hadlee could bat too, lustily and dangerously down the order, though he only made two hundreds in 86 Tests. He is now New Zealand's chairman of selectors.

1984
One of cricket's truisms is that Gordon Greenidge was lethal on two legs … and deadly on one. At Lord's he pummelled England to a nine-wicket defeat with a blistering 214 not out. England had declared to set West Indies 342 to win in 78 overs. They rampaged to victory in 66.1. The only wicket England got - and the first second-innings wicket West Indies had lost in seven Tests - was a run-out. Greenidge faced only 242 balls, in which time he belted 29 fours and two sixes. In Wisden Cricket Monthly, Scyld Berry wrote that "[Greenidge] made it look like a Sunday League romp at Southampton."

1999
Another matchwinning Caribbean masterclass - but this time from an Englishman. There was a whiff of West Indies about Alex Tudor's famous 99 not out against New Zealand at Edgbaston, as time after time he rocked back to cream boundaries through the covers. He spanked 21 fours in all - a startling 85% of his runs. The pantomime villain was Graham Thorpe, who dominated the strike as the last rites were played out and thus denied Tudor the chance to become the first English nightwatchman to make a Test hundred. England got out of jail here - England had been 45 for 7 in their first innings, but a few hours later New Zealand were 52 for 8 in their second innings, and the door was ajar. Nobody expected Tudor to batter it down - nor that Tudor would not play Test cricket for the next two years.

1980
Whatever he does in the next 15 years, Harbhajan Singh, who was born today, will never top 11 extraordinary days in March 2001. With India 1-0 down to the all-conquering Australians, Harbhajan won the series almost on his own. He had some help from VVS Laxman and friends, but in bowling terms, this was a one-man show unmatched in the modern era. Harbhajan took 32 wickets in the series. The next best, Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan, managed just three. That included the first hat-trick by an Indian, and time and time again Australia played for extravagant turn and were done by loop and zip. In the four innings of the second and third Tests, his figures were: 7 for 123, 6 for 73, 7 for 133 and 8 for 84.

1911
Birth of Joe Hardstaff Jr, the Nottinghamshire middle-order batsman who had a distinguished Test career despite losing his best years to the Second World War. He played 23 Tests and averaged a weighty 46.74. His signature moment was at The Oval in 1938, when he smacked 169 not out as England piled up 903 for 7 and walloped Australia by a record innings and 579 runs. His father Joseph also played five Tests for England. "Young Joe" died in Worksop in 1990.

1950
After surviving a horrific injury on his Test debut, Ewen Chatfield, who was born today, established him as a fine, honest foil for the talents of Richard Hadlee during New Zealand's run of success in the late seventies and early eighties. Against England at Auckland in 1974-75 - before the advent of helmets - Chatfield wore a bouncer from Peter Lever and ended up fracturing his skull. He also swallowed his tongue and, for a short time, Chatfield's heart stopped beating. His life was saved by the quick work of England's physio Bernard Thomas. Chatfield's strengths were discipline and economy - throughout his career he went for only 2.29 runs per over. His Test career was also notable for a couple of statistical anomalies: when New Zealand won he averaged 19, when they lost it was 58. And in the third innings of a match, Chatfield averaged 22. In the fourth that rocketed bizarrely to 73.

1952
Birth of Wasim Raja, that rumbustious, hirsute allrounder for Pakistan in the seventies and eighties. He was a wonderfully gifted left-handed dasher in the lower middle-order, at his best against West Indies. In 11 Tests he averaged 57, including 517 runs in five Tests in 1976-77. His skiddy, Afridi-esque legbreaks were good enough to snare 51 Test wickets, 33 of them outside Pakistan. His younger brother Ramiz, as straight-laced as Wasim was happy-go-lucky, also played 57 Tests for Pakistan, the same number as his brother. Wasim later married an English girl before becoming one of ICC's elite panel of match referees.

1976
Birth of Zimbabwe's first black Test player. Henry Olonga's career has been a mixed bag: he was no-balled for throwing on his debut, against Pakistan at Harare in 1994-95, but made important contributions to Zimbabwe's victories over India and Pakistan in 1998-99, including his only five-for against the Indians. At his best genuinely quick, Olonga is in no way the proverbial dumb fast bowler. He is erudite and charming, a devout Christian and blessed with an outstanding singing voice.

1902
The start of the one and only Test to be played at Sheffield's Bramall Lane ground. The match was blighted by appalling weather which kept attendances low and Australia romped to a 143-run victory. Soon after, Yorkshire moved their powerbase to Leeds and Bramall Lane was never again considered as a suitable venue for Test cricket. It staged its last first-class match in 1973. Apart from cricket, Bramall Lane was the venue for other sports, most notably as the home for Sheffield United FC. In 1895 it hosted the world's first floodlit football match.

1902
Birth of Jack Newman, the New Zealand left-arm seamer who played three Tests in the thirties. He is best remembered as a rare cricket Sir, having been knighted in 1978. He died in his native Nelson in 1996, at a time when he was the oldest living Test cricketer.

1984
After 22 years of hurt, Derek Underwood finally made his first - and only - first-class hundred. It came for Kent against Sussex at Hove - at the age of 39.

Other birthdays

1936 Eric Russell (England)

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