Let us take a trip down memory lane and recall some of the finest moments and incidents that occured during the fourth week of May.
20 MAY
Born on this day were:
Deryck Murray (1943-), West Indian wicket-keeper and cricket administrator;
Keith Fletcher (1944-), English batsman and captain who played in 59 Tests (1968-82);
Andrew Hilditch (1956-), Australian opening batsman (1979-85) who was Test cricket’s second ‘handled-the-ball’ victim, at Perth in 1978-79;
Dipak Chudasama (1963-), Kenya’s former ODI opening batsman who is a qualified dentist;
Anjum Chopra (1977-), Indian woman’s cricket player; and
Ramesh Powar (1978-) bulky Indian off-spinner.
In 1911 English cricketer Dr. E.M.Graig died, aged 69.Brother of the great W.G Grace, He was doctor and a superb all-round cricketer, who scored 10,000 runs in first-class cricket. He played in one Test – against Australia in 1880, scoring 36 and 0. On the same day Edwin ‘Ted’ alleston and William Riley added 152 for Nottinghamshire’s tenth wicket against Sussex at Hove. Alletson scored 189 in 90 minutes going from 50 to his final score in just 30 minutes. Riley was left on 10 not out.
In 1940 Indian pace bowler Amar Singh, died of pneumonia at the young age of 29. One of India’s fastest bowlers he skittled England in the Lord’s Test in 1936 for 134, taking 6 for 35, after India had been dismissed for 147. He was a great friend of Vijay Merchant and both made a pact that they would name their sons after the other, a promise both kept. Cricketing fame, however, eluded both the offspring.
In 1955 by capturing five wickets for 56 runs against Australia in the fourth Test at Bridgetown, West Indian skipper Denis Atkinson, became the first all-rounder in Test history to score a double hundred and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test match. He had scored 219 the previous day.
In 1965 Yorkshire were skittled for their lowest-ever total, 23, by Hampshire at Middlesborough. The side which included Boycott, Illingworth and Trueman tumbled from 7 for 0 to 13 for 8. ‘Butch’ White took 6 for 10, including a spell of 5 for 0. Hampshire needing just 20 to win won by ten wickets.
In 1999 Pakistan met Scotland at Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street in a World Cup match. The match, which Pakistan won by 94 runs, is of interest because it produced a record 96 extras with Scotland and Pakistan contributing 59 and 37 respectively. They broke the 24-hour-old record of 90 set in the India-Zimbabwe match at Leicester.
In 2000 19-years-old West Indian Ramnaresh Sarwan made 84 not out, in his first Test innings against Pakistan at Bridgetown. It was the start of a promising Test career.
In 2005 Greg Chappell was appointed India’s coach.
21 MAY
Born on this day were:
John James Ferris (1867-1900), left-arm swing bowler who played Test cricket for Australia and England in the late 1880s;
Arthur Carr (1893-1963), English captain against Australia in 1926 whose advocacy of ‘bodyline’ and support of Larwood prematurely ended his career as a player and administrator; and
Liaqat Ali (1955-), Pakistani pace bowler who played in six Tests (1975-79).
In 1787 the first ball was bowled at Lord’s cricket ground. Thomas Lord, an enterprising Yorkshireman had leased a piece of land in London where Dorset Square now stands and this became Lord’s. It moved to its present location in St. John’s wood in 1814. The first match was played between the White Conduit Club and Middlesex.
Two outstanding ODI innings were played today:
In 1993 Robin Smith made 167 not out at Edgbaston in the Texaco Trophy against Australia. It was then the highest score anyone made on the losing side in a ODI and still is the highest by an Englishman. Australia won by six wickets. In 1997 Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar scored 194 against India at Chennai, the highest individual innings in a ODI, which was equalled by Zimbabwean Charles Coventry in 2009 and broken by India’s Sachin Tendulkar earlier this year.
In 1999 West Indies met Bangladesh in a World Cup encounter at Castle Avenue, Dublin. This was the first ever ODI to be played in Ireland. West Indies emerged easy victors by seven wickets. It was also statistically interesting: It was the 1,454th ODI and an identical number of Test matches had also been completed at the time.
In 2000 England demolished Zimbabwe by an innings and 209 runs – their biggest victory for 26 years- as the first seven-Test summer in England got under way. Zimbabwe never recovered from being reduced to 8 for 3 by Andy Caddick on the first morning.
22 MAY
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), English writer best known for his creation of the detective ‘Sherlock Holmes’ was born on this day in 1859. He played for the MCC against several counties, scored a century in his first match at Lord’s and twice took ten wickets in an innings. He boasted of W.G. Grace as his solitary victim in first-class cricket and was so overjoyed at this achievement that he promptly composed a 19-stanza poem to celebrate the feat.
Also born on this day were:
George parr (1826-91), English batsman who was the first man to captain an England touring team to Canada and the united States in 1859 (The famous Staffordshire pottery figures of a cricketer c.1855 are said to represent him and Julius Caesar of Surrey);
Warwick ‘the Big Ship’ Armstrong (1879-1947), Australian batsman and captain who led Australia to eight successive wins over England in 1920-21 including the only whitewash in Ashes history;
Eric Petrie (1927-), New Zealand wicket-keeper of the late 1950s who played 14 Tests in which he had 25 dismissals; and
Erapalli Prasanna (1940-), Indian off-spinner who was one of the famed quartet of Indian spin in the 1970s with Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Venkataraghavan.
In 1907 Albert Trott took two hat-tricks in an innings for Middlesex at Lord’s – the first of only two occasions on which this has been done. After the first hat-trick he took another wicket with his next ball to make it four in four. He finished with figures of 7 for 20. It was Trott’s benefit match and this cost him a lot of gate money. He is said to have commented, ‘I’ve bowled myself into the workhouse. ‘
In 1933 E.H. ‘Patsy’ Hendren wore a protective cap designed by his wife while playing for MCC against the West Indies at Lord’s. It contained extra thick padding of sponge, with two extra peaks covering the ears and temples. Hendren claimed that he needed extra protection against the persistently short pitched bowling of the visitors. Mike Brearley sometimes wore a specially made padded cap but it was only in 1978 that the first-class cricket by Dennis Amiss. Australian Graham Yalloq was the first to wear a helmet in a Test match.
In 1936 Lord brabourne laid the foundation stone of the stadium named for him in Bombay. This was India’s first cricket stadium and the venue for Test matches till 1975.
In 1945 Australian Services won the first Victory Test against England at Lord’s by six wickets.
In 1979, at Solihull, Singapore beat Argentina by one wicket in the first match of the inaugural ICC Trophy. The purpose of the tournament was to decide which two teams would take part in the world Cup. Canada and Sri Lanka booked their places in the World Cup by winning their semi-finals on 6 June.
23 May
In 2001 The Condon Report was released on corruption in cricket. It carried no new names but made 24 recommendations.
24 MAY
Born on this day were:
Aron ‘Ali’ Bacher (1942-), South African batsman, captain and cricket administrator who was managing director of the UCB from 1991 to 2000; and
Martin McCague (1969-), English fast bowler who was born in Ulster and raised in Australia.
In 1877 Oxford University were dismissed for just 12 by MCC at Oxford. This is the lowest total in first-class history. Northamptonshire equaled the record 30 years later and Oxford supporters claim that the Northants team fared worse than their team as Oxford had to bat one man short.
In 1886 the first Parsee team in England played against Lord Sheffield’s XI at Sheffield Park. The match was drawn.
In 1900 Johnny Briggs of Lancashire took all ten Worcestershire wickets for 55 runs at Old Trafford. In 1923 Harry Howell became the first of three Warwickshire bowlers (Hollies and Bannister are the others) to take all ten in an innings when he dismissed Yorkshire at Edgbaston (10 for 51).
In 1927 an era ended as Yorkshire lost by eight wickets to Warwickshire at Hull, their first defeat in the County championship for a record 71 matches and almost three years.
In 1958 Col. John Glennie ‘Jungly’ Greig, who is considered the best player of the Bombay Presidency Tournament died, aged 86. Affectionately called ‘jungly’ because his name John Glennie sounded similar he was a master of the late-cut and was the first to reach 1,000 runs in the tournament. He played with distinction in the company of such pioneers of Indian cricket as Dr. M.E. Pavri, Col. K.M. Mistry and Dr. H.D. Kanga. He scored consistently for the Europeans until his last season in 1920 when he was almost fifty years old. He is also said to have discovered and nurtured the talents of Baloo Palwankar.
In 1961 Anthony de Mello, Indian cricket administrator and the person who played a leading role in the formation of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the Cricket Club of India and the Delhi and District Cricket Association, died of cancer, aged 60. He was responsible for initiating the Ranji Trophy and the building of the Brabourne Stadium. It is said that while negotiating the sale of land for the stadium with Lord Brabourne and his Revenue Secretary, de Mello clinched the deal with the question, ‘Your Excellency which would you prefer to accept from sportsmen, money for your government or immortality for yourself ?’
In 1988 England completed their very own Caribbean ODI whitewash. They beat the West Indies at Lord’s by seven wickets to complete a 3-0 series victory.
In 1999 West Indies beat New Zealand at Southampton by seven wickets in a World Cup match. This match is interesting because this was the first World Cup match in which all New Zealand batsmen were out caught. Ridley Jacobs took a record-equalling five catches.
In 2000 the Pakistan Cricket Board released the Qayyum Report which recommended a life ban for Salim Malik and Ata-ur-Rahman.
In 2009 Deccan Chargers, captained by Adam Gilchrist, won the second IPL title beating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Johannesburg final.
25 MAY
Born on this day were:
Alan Kippax (1897-1972), New South Wales batsman who played 22 Tests for Australia and was a specialist in the late-cut;
Rusi Surti (1936-), Indian all-rounder who played 26 Tests for India and later emigrated to Australia; and
Robert Croft (1970-), English off-spinner.
In 1868 the first overseas team ever to visit England began their first match, against Surrey Gentlemen. The Australian Aborigines were led by Charles Lawrence, who had earlier played for both Surrey and Middlesex. Surrey won by an innings and seven runs.
In 1985 Allan Border scored a fourth consecutive first-class hundred in Australia’s tour match at Derbyshire. He started his tour with centuries against Somerset, Worcestershire and MCC.
In 1995 Sachin Tendulkar married Dr. Anjali Mehta, a paediatrician in Mumbai.
In 2003 West Indies beat Australia by 39 runs at Port of Spain ending a record 21-match winning sequence. It also ended West Indies 11-match losing sequence against the Aussies. (‘I was a bit disappointed to see the winning sequence end, but the more I think about it the more unbelievable I think it is’- Ricky Pointing, Australian Captain.)
In 2007 Bill Johnston, a member of Don Bradman’s “Invincible” 1948 Australia side, died.
In 2007 India ended the day one of Mirpur Test against Bangladesh with 326 for no loss, with Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar unbeaten on 88 and 9 respectively. How was this possible? What happened was that Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik opened the innings and added 175 before Karthik retired hurt with cramps. Dravid came out to bat in place of Karthik. Then at 281, still without the loss of a wicket, Jaffer had to retire hurt because of the cramps. Tendulkar replaced him and he and Dravid then batted till stumps for 326 for 0.
26 MAY
Glenn Turner (1947-), one of New Zealand’s finest batsman was born on this day in 1947. He added 387 with Terry Jarvis in Guyana in 1971-72, the second highest opening partnership in test history, and also became the first New Zealand to score two hundreds in a Test, at Christchurch in 1973-74, when the Kiwis beat Australia for the first time. He was also the first man after World War 2nd to score 1,000 first-class runs in England by the end of May.
Also born on this day were:
Jack Cheetham (1920-80), South African batsman and captain;
Geoff Greenidge (1948-), West Indian all-rounder who was the last white man to play for West Indies before Brendan Nash and who in one of the most sensational debuts in first-class cricket (for Barbados against Jamaica at Bridgetown in 1966-67), scored 205 and then took 7 for 124 in the first innings with his leg-spinners;
Paul Collingwood (1976-), England all-rounder and
Avishka Gunawardene (1977-)
In 1999 Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid added a monstrous 318 for the second wicket in a World Cup match against Sri Lanka at Taunton. Ganguly hit 183 off 147 balls, and Dravid 145 off 129. At the time it was a ODI record for any wicket, but it has since been broken. Dravid added 331- against for the second wicket- with Sachin Tendulkar against New Zealand at Hyderabad the following winter. On the same day South Africa Beat Kenya at VRA ground, Amstelveen, Holland by seven wickets. Klusener bagged his third successive Man of the match award for his five wickets. It was the first ODI to be held in Holland.
In 2007 the first four Indian batsmen all scored hundreds against Bangladesh at Mirpur – first such instance in Test history. They were also very near to break the world record of scoring most runs before the fall of first wicket, but narrowly missed it. Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik added 175 on day one before Karthik retired hurt with cramps. Then at 281, still without the loss of a wicket, Jaffer was also taken off with cramps, and Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar batted till stumps for 326 for 0. On day two Dravid fell, India's first wicket, when they needed six runs to break the opening-stand record of 413 set by Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad. Karthik returned to get his maiden century.
Compiled by Rajneesh Gupta
