Hadlee's slow start

Richard Hadlee made an inauspicious start to a great career © Getty Images Enlarge

1973
New Zealand's greatest cricketer made his debut. Sir Richard Hadlee started fairly inauspiciously with 2 for 112 in the first Test against Pakistan in Wellington, and after 17 Tests he averaged 35. If he had been English, he might not have played again. Thankfully for New Zealand, he did - against England, and a 10-for in Wellington in 1977-78 sparked a great career.

1992
An awful innings from Graham Gooch - and a match-winning one too. Though he hardly middled a thing, Gooch somehow made 114 on a horrible Auckland pitch in the second Test against New Zealand. With Allan Lamb walloping a cheeky 47-ball 60, England were always in control. Their 168-run win made it four in a row - for the first time since 1979 - and confirmed New Zealand's first series defeat at home since 1978-79.

1961
In St Kitts, an England seamer with a Test average of exactly 20 was born. Joey Benjamin is a bit of a statistical freak, as he played only one Test, against South Africa at The Oval in 1994, when he was 33. A bustling, busy bowler, Benjamin took 4 for 42 in the first innings, helping England to a famous eight-wicket victory. He went on the Ashes tour that winter and played a couple of one-dayers, but never got near another Test appearance.

1988
David Boon saved the Bicentennial Test with a rugged, unbeaten 184 against England in Sydney. His 492-minute innings came after Australia had followed on, but on a pitch that was expected to turn, John Emburey and Eddie Hemmings toiled through 90 second-innings overs for one dismissal. That's a strike-rate of 540 balls per wicket.

1992
You can't keep a good man down. Boon got yet another Test ton today, against India in Perth. The trampoline bounce meant that 33 out of 36 wickets fell to catches in this match - a Test record. Despite a sumptuous first-innings century from the 18-year-old Sachin Tendulkar, Australia won it by 300 runs to clinch a 4-0 thrashing when India collapsed from 82 for 0 to 141 all out on the last day, with Mike Whitney taking 7 for 27.

1968
Birth of Aminul Islam, the Bangladeshi who made a century in his country's inaugural Test. He was the third person to do so, after Australia's Charles Bannerman and Zimbabwe's Dave Houghton, but like Bangladesh, Islam struggled since that 145, which came against India in Dhaka in November 2000. He played his final Test in December 2002.

1985
Left-hand opener Upul Tharanga, born today, had his first successful international tour in England scoring two hundreds and a half-century in five ODIs. He and Sanath Jayasuriya added 286 - the highest stand for the first wicket - in the final match as Sri Lanka swept the series. He scored three more half-centuries in the 2007 World Cup, though was out for 6 in the final. While his one-day batting remained consistent, his Test form dipped, and Tillakaratne Dilshan established himself at the top of the order, Tharanga found himself back in the sidelines. In ODIs, however, he carried on, partnering Dilshan at the top of the order after Jayasuriya quit. But in the 2011 World Cup, in which he scored 385 runs, he failed a random dope test conducted by the ICC and was banned for three months.

1892
The first Test hat-trick outside Melbourne. Johnny Briggs ended Australia's second innings on the fourth day in Sydney by dismissing Walter Giffen, Jack Blackham and Sydney Callaway off consecutive deliveries. Briggs was the third to achieve the feat - Frederick Spofforth and Billy Bates had done it previously, at the MCG in 1878-79 and 1882-83 - and the first in defeat. Australia won by 72 runs, after conceding a first-innings lead of 163.

1987
Birth of Imrul Kayes, the Bangladesh opening batsman who made his international debut in 2008 when selectors were looking for a partner for Tamim Iqbal at the top of the order. However, after three low scores Kayes found himself out of the one-day side for two years, though still playing Tests. He returned in early 2010 and made his maiden one-day hundred in Christchurch - a match Bangladesh lost. Three months later, he made a second-innings 75 in the Lord's Test, but was overshadowed by Tamim's century. He did finally star in a victory when he scored a composed 60 in Bangladesh's World Cup win over England in 2011.

Other birthdays
1954 Jayantha Amerasinghe (Sri Lanka)
1969 Ijaz Ahmed jr (Pakistan)
1985 Vaughn van Jaarsveld (South Africa)