Third week of July

14 JULY

Born on this day were: Khalid Hassan (1937), Pakistani all-rounder who was only 16 years 352 days old when he played his first (and last) Test against England at Trent Bridge in 1954; Peter Webb (1957-), New Zealand batsman who played in two Tests in 1979-80;  Hassan Tillekeratne (1967), former Sri Lankan batsman and captain, and Geraint Jones (1976-), England’s wicketkeeper and Bikash Das (1982), who played one Test for Bangladesh.

In 1933, Yorkshire's Hedley Verity bowled out Essex twice in a day at Leyton. Verity took 8 for 47 and 9 for 44, and even though he took 15 wickets in a match five times in his career, he never bettered this performance of 17 for 91.

In 1984, Malcolm Marshall took 7 for 53, against England at Headingley despite his left thumb being in plaster. England collapsed from 104 for 2 to 159 all out. For England, the nightmare was just beginning – they were two Tests away from being blackwashed for the first time.

In 1986, India's Sandhya Agarwal scored 190 runs in a Test match against England. This was the highest score by an Indian in women's Test cricket till August 2002 when compatriot Mithali Raj scored 214 against England in the second Test at Taunton. 


15 JULY

Born on this day were: Owen Dunell (1856-1929), South African batsman who was his country's first captain; Haseeb Ahsan (1939-), Pakistani off-spinner in 12 Tests (1958-62); Alan Hurst (1950-), Australian pace bowler (1974-79) who made ten ducks in 20 Test innings; and Andre Nel (1977-), South African pace bowler.

In 1850, John Wisden, the founder of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack clean bowled all ten batsmen in an innings while playing for North v South at Lord's. This is the first and only such instance in a first-class match. In all, 30 wickets fell and 25 of them were bowled. Of the other five, three were run out.

In 1902, K.S. Ranjitsinhji scored 180 before lunch for Sussex against Surrey at Hastings. He was 54 not out overnight and reached 234 before lunch, remaining undefeated.

In 1938, Kent's Arthur Fagg became the only man in history to score two double centuries in a first-class match when he cracked 202 not out against Essex at Colchester. Fagg had already made 244 on the first day, including a century before lunch.

In 1989, Notinghamshire beat Essex off the last ball in the Benson & Hedges final. Eddie Hemmings hit the winning boundary off John Lever. Nottinghamshire had lost a famous NatWest Trophy final to Essex off the last ball four years earlier.

In 2001, Netherlands defeated Namibia by two wickets to win the ICC Trophy at Toronto. On the same day, a league match with a difference took place between Amar Milan and Yorkshire LPS at Bradford, England. The match was different because all 22 players shared the surname of Patel. Even the scorer was a Patel and in the end Amar Milan Patels beat Yorkshire Patels by 31 runs. 


16 JULY

Born on this day were: Stan McCabe (1910-68), outstanding Australian batsman whose 187 in the first match of the 1932-33 'Bodyline' series and his 232 at Trent Bridge in 1938 were the highpoints of a successful career; John Warr (1927), English bowler whose bowling average of 281 and a strike rate of 584 were the worst in Test history (till West Indian leg-spinner Rawl Lewis); and Shaun Pollock (1973), South African all-rounder who was captain of South Africa and is the second South African after Allan Donald to take more than 300 Test wickets.

In 1864, W.G. Grace made his first appearance in big cricket two days before his 16th birthday. He scored 170 and 56 not out for South Wales Club against Gentleman of Sussex.

In 1895, Archie MacLaren completed a mammoth 424 for Lancashire against Somerset at Taunton. It was the highest score in first-class history at the time and remained the highest in first-class cricket in England for 99 years until it was bettered by Brian Lara in 1994.

In 1896, the great Ranjitsinhji made his Test debut for England against Australia in the second Test at Old Trafford. He became the first Indian to play Test cricket for England and two days later he became the first player to score 100 runs in a Test before lunch.

In 1951, Len Hutton scored his 100th first-class hundred for Yorkshire against Surrey at The Oval. 


17 JULY

Born on this day were: Alex Moir (1919-2000), New Zealand leg-spinner who played in 17 Tests (1950-59); Robert 'Bob' Taylor (1941), English wicket-keeper who took ten catches at Bombay in the Golden Jubilee Test of 1979-80' Mark Burgess (1944-), New Zealand batsman and captain who made five hundreds in his 50 Tests; Kim Barnett (1960-), English player who scored 84 in his only ODI against Sri Lanka at The Oval in 1988' Andre Adams (1975), who made his sole Test appearance for New Zealand in 2002; and Omari Banks (1982), West Indian off-spinner.

In 1884 in the Ashes Test match at Lord's, as many as 27 wickets fell for 157 runs in just over three hours of actual playing time. It was a mud pitch and this is still a record number of wickets to fall in a day's play in Test cricket.

In 1893 against Australia at Lord's, England's Arthur Shrewsbury became the first man to make 1,000 runs in Tests when he hammered 106 in the first innings. On the same day A.E. Stoddart became the first captain to declare a Test innings closed (334 for 8 declared). The match was drawn. Australian umpire James Phillips became the first Test umpire to officiate in two countries when he stood in this Test at Lord's.

In 1936, Vijay Merchant achieved the then unique distinction by an Indian of carrying his bat in both innings of a first-class match. While playing for India against Lancashire at Liverpool he was 135 not out (out of a total of 271) in the first innings and 77 not out (out of a total of 161) in the second innings. D.Sudhakar Reddy repeated the feat at Calicut playing for Andhra Pradesh against Kerala in 1991-92 (91 not out and 30 not out).

In 1937, W.H. Copson of Derbyshire took five wickets in six balls against Warwickshire at Derby to become the first to achieve this feat. W.A. Henderson and Pat Pocock are the others in this very select club. Copson took 8 for 11. Umpiring at one end was C.W.L. Parker who had himself taken six hat-tricks for Gloucestershire including four wickets in four balls. 


18 JULY

In 1848, the incomparable W.G. Grace was born. 'The Doctor', or just 'WG' as he was called was a magnificent all-rounder: a dashing batsman and a cunning, round-arm slow-medium bowler. His records are legion: first two triple centuries in first-class cricket, first to make 2,000 first-class runs in a season (2,739 in 1871), first to 1,000 runs in May (1895), first (and probably only) man to replace the bails after being bowled and carry on his innings, first to 50,000 first-class runs, first to 100 hundreds, first Test century in England, and first Englishman to make a century on debut. Grace captained England in the last 13 of his 22 Tests. He played in his last Gentleman v Players match on his 58th birthday at The Oval. His 6,008 runs and 271 wickets are a record in this fixture. He died in 1915, after suffering a heart attack during an air raid in Kent. Such was his fame that the Germans tried to boost their morale by claiming him as one of the victims of the raid.

Also born on this day were: Zin Harris (1927-91), New Zealand right-hand batsman (and Chris Harris' father) who played nine Tests over a period of nine years; and Dennis Keith Lillee (1949-), Australian pace bowler who became one of the greatest bowlers in history (he was the leading Test wicket-taker when he retired with 355 scalps and now runs a fast-bowling clinic in Chennai).

In 1893, Harry Graham scored 107 on debut for Australia against England at Lord's. He was the first to make a century at Lord's on Test debut.

In 1896, Ranjitsinhji completed 154 not out on Test debut against Australia at Old Trafford. Ranji, the first Indian to play Test cricket, became the second batsman after Grace to score a hundred on debut for England. He was the first to score a hundred before lunch in a Test match.

In 1932, Syed Nazir Ali of India made 52 in the Indian second innings against Yorkshire at Harrogate. He made 52 out of a total of 66 and this is the lowest total in a first-class match to include a fifty. The Indians lost by six wickets on the next day.

Only ten men have ever scored a century and taken a hat-trick in a first-class match and Mike Procter is the only man to have done it twice. In 1972, he did it for the first time here, taking 8 for 73 in the match and cracking 51 and 102 for Gloucestershire against Essex at Westcliff-on-Sea. It was an all-lbw hat-trick and all from around the wicket. 


19 JULY

Born on this day were: John Gunn (1876-1963), English all-rounder; Arthur Fielder (1877-1949), who played six Tests for England, all against Australia; P. Ananda Rau (1914-91), South India's outstanding cricket commentator from 1943 till the 1970s for both first-class and Test cricket; Dom Moraes (1938), Indian poet and author who published a book on cricket called Green is the Grass in 1951 when he was just 13, becoming the youngest writer on cricket at the time; and R(oger) M(ichael) H(umphrey) Binny (1955-), Indian all-rounder who was the first Anglo-Indian to play for India and who took the highest number of wickets (18) in the 1983 World Cup.

 

In 1986, Australian George Giffen (1237 runs and 101 wickets in 30 Tests) became the first all-rounder to do the Test 'double' of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets against England at Old Trafford.

In 1899, Australian Monty Noble (60 not out and 59 not out) became the only batsman in Test cricket to score two fifties on the same day against England at Old Trafford.

In 1952, India suffered the ignominy of being the only Test side to be dismissed twice in one day in a Test match in the 20th century. They were bowled out at Old Trafford, Manchester for 58 and 82 losing to England by an innings and 207 runs. Trueman took 8 for 31 in the first innings and Tony Lock 4 for 36 in 9.3 overs as 22 wickets fell in the day. 

In 1993, this was the last day of first-class cricket for Ian Botham. Halfway through Durham's tour match against the Australians, Botham announced that it would be his last. He made 32 and went wicketless. On the same day Lancashire's Glen Chappel scored a first-class hundred in just 21 minutes against Glomorgan at Manchester. This came in contrived circumstances (when runs were given from full tosses and long hops to expedite a declaration) and hence does not qualify as a record. Chappel's hundred came against non-serious bowlers, Tony Cottey (6-0-121-0) and Matthew Maynard (6-0-110-1).

In 2003, Surrey won the inaugural Twenty20 Cup beating Warwickshire at Trent Bridge by nine wickets. The Twenty20 Cup was a major new addition to the cricket season, replacing the Benson & Hedges Cup in the English domestic calendar. Matches were restricted to under three hours and were played from 5.30 p.m. – 8.15 p.m. or 7.30 p.m. –10.15 p.m. under floodlights.
 
On the same day, Steve Waugh made 100 not out against Bangladesh in the first Test at Darwin to mark his 31st century and also equal Gary Kirsten's record of making hundreds against all nine other Test playing nations.


20 JULY

Born on this day were: Maurice Leyland (1900-67), English batsman who is best remembered for his final Test innings of 187 during which he shared a partnership of 382 with Len Hutton at The Oval in 1938; Eric Rowan (1909-93), South African batsman; Mohammad Baqa Jilani (1911-41), Indian all-rounder (and Imran Khan's uncle) who played one Test in 1936 and is best remembered for being the first player to take a hat-trick in the Ranji Trophy; Peter Parker (1959), Australian Test umpire; and Debasis Mohanty (1976-), Indian fast bowler who is the only player to play Test cricket from Orissa and who is one of five Indians to take all ten wickets in a first-class match.

In 1942, Barbados dismissed Trinidad for 16 runs in 69 minutes, the lowest first-class innings in the West Indies. Derrick Sealy took 8 for 8.

In 1981 in the Headingley Test, Ian Botham came to the wicket with England on 135 for 7 in their second innings, still 92 behind Australia's first innings score. By the close Botham was on 145 not out, having added 110 for the eighth wicket with Dilley and 67 for the ninth with Old. Next day Bob Willis took 8 for 43 to seal a famous victory.

In 2000, Sanath Jayasuriya blasted 148 off only 156 balls in the Galle Test against South Africa. He was involved in an opening partnership of 193 with Marvan Atapattu. Sri Lanka reached 522 and then Muralitharan (with 13 for 171), delivered the coup de grace as South Africa trumbled to defeat by an innings and 15 runs. It was Sri Lanka's first Test win over South Africa. On the same day Indian tax authorities raided houses of Indian cricketers in 'Operation Gentleman'

In 2003, Steve Waugh became Test cricket's most successful skipper when Australia beat Bangladesh by an innings and 132 runs in the first Test at Darwin. Waugh had won 37 of his 50 Tests as captain beating Clive Lloyd's record of 36 wins from 74 matches. It was Bangladesh's 14th consecutive loss and Australia's 16th victory in 19 Tests.