Duleep's triple

Duleepsinhji: made his highest first-class score, in 1930 against Northants © Getty Images Enlarge

1930
Rich entertainment for the crowd in Brighton as the great Duleepsinhji laced a glorious 333 in just over five hours for Sussex against Northants. It was his highest first-class score, and 21 more than Northants managed between them in two innings. Only three batsmen have ever scored more runs in a day in first-class cricket: Brian Lara leads the way with the last 390 of his famous 501 not out for Warwickshire in 1994.

1966
Birth of the West Indian fast bowler Anderson Cummins, a man best known for a match he didn't play in. In South Africa's first Test back - in Barbados in 1992 - West Indies gave a debut to Kenny Benjamin, instead of the local boy Cummins. The match was boycotted as a result, and one banner - "No Cummins, no goings" - summed up the mood. Cummins did eventually play five Tests but did better in the one-day arena. In 2006-07 he made an unexpected return when he was drafted into the Canadian national side at the age of 40, 11 years since his last major outing. Unsurprisingly, he was a shadow of the player he had been but he revisited the Caribbean as part of Canada's 2007 World Cup squad.

1972
Legspinner Upul Chandana, born today, made his one-day debut in 1994 and got into Sri Lanka's Test squad five years later, but it wasn't till 2003 that he began to hold his place down. While earlier he was valuable as a hard-hitting batsman in the middle order, by 2004, Chandana's bowling had improved vastly. But his form fell away and he was dropped late in 2005, though he made one rather unexpected one-day appearance in July 2007, soon after which he retired. Chandana then joined the ICL but returned to domestic cricket when the ban was lifted in 2008. His best one-day performance was 5 for 61 against South Africa in 2004.

1980
New Zealand offspinner Jeetan Patel, born today, made his one-day debut in 2005. In his first nine ODIs he took 13 wickets, and he made his Test debut soon after, in Cape Town in April 2006 - a match in which he took 3 for 117. In the 2007 World Cup he took seven wickets in six matches. He got a second chance in Tests in 2008, when he took six wickets against West Indies in Napier in December. He took another six against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2009, but hasn't quite cemented his place in the side in any of the formats.

1949
Proof that university games weren't always a walkover. An Essex attack that included Trevor Bailey got a bit of a shock when John Dewes and Hubert Doggart added an unbroken 429 at Cambridge, at the time the highest second-wicket partnership in English domestic history. In fairness to the Essex boys, these weren't just any old scruffy undergraduates: Dewes had already played in a Test for England, Doggart would do so the following year.

1991
In the most thrilling finish imaginable, Haryana beat their hosts Bombay by just two runs in the Ranji Trophy final. Chasing 355 in 67 overs on a worn last-day pitch, Bombay looked dead at 305 for 9, but Dilip Vengsarkar cracked the target within range as the debutant Abey Kuruvilla held on grimly at the other end. Vengsarkar walloped 26 off one over, until, with three needed, Kuruvilla was run out after a mix-up. Vengsarkar, who was left undefeated after a marvellous 138-ball 139, wept in the middle at the finish.

1886
Birth of the Surrey and England seamer Bill Hitch, famous for his unusual, hopping run-up. As well as being genuinely fast with the ball, he was a fine short leg and a lusty lower-order hitter. He smeared 51 not out in the last innings of his modest seven-Test career. Hitch later coached Glamorgan. He died in Cardiff in 1965.

1900
In an amazing County Championship match in Bradford, Worcestershire skittled Yorkshire for 99... and lost by an innings. That's because they were blown away for 43 and 51 themselves, with Wilfred Rhodes returning match figures of 11 for 36.

Other birthdays
1941 Grahame Bilby (New Zealand)
1955 Karen Price (Australia)
1975 Ashley Cowan (England)
1979 Jon Kent (South Africa)
1982 Qaiser Abbas (Pakistan)