Saqlain's hat-trick

Rachael Heyhoe-Flint did much to bring women's cricket to a bigger audience © Getty Images Enlarge

1999
A World Cup hat-trick for Saqlain Mushtaq, as Pakistan thrashed Zimbabwe by 148 runs in the Super Six match at The Oval. Given the men he dismissed, it's one he might remember quite sheepishly: Henry Olonga (one-day international average: 4.36), Adam Huckle (2.25), and Pommie Mbangwa (4.71) were never in danger of doing much wagging. But a World Cup hat-trick is a World Cup hat-trick: this was only the second, and Saqqy also became the second man (Wasim Akram was the first) to take two hat-tricks in ODIs.

1907
It might have been one of the wettest summers on record, but what was clear was that Northamptonshire's batsmen were all at sea. Three weeks after being bowled out for 60 and 39 by Kent, they were skittled for 12 in 40 minutes by Gloucestershire at Gloucester. It remains the lowest score in county cricket and the third lowest of all time. George Dennett was the destroyer, with 8 for 9 (all eight wickets came for three runs), and he took 7 for 12 in Northants' second innings. They held on for a draw, however.

2008
The arrival of English cricket's sugar daddy. When Sir Allen Stanford landed his sleek black helicopter on the hallowed turf of Lord's, flanked by a cortege of West Indian legends and greeted with presidential pomp and ceremony by the ECB, the intended message was that nothing in the game would ever be the same again. Minutes later Stanford unveiled a Perspex box containing $20million, the sum of money that would be up for grabs in the first of five winner-takes-all "20/20 for 20s" in Antigua in November that year. It all seemed a bit unreal, and sure enough, it was: Stanford was arrested for fraud to the tune of millions of dollars early in 2009.

1951
A Calypso allrounder is born. Collis King could be an absolutely devastating hitter on his day. His coronation came in the World Cup final of 1979, when he flayed England all round Lord's in a breathtaking 66-ball 86, having come to the crease with West Indies in trouble. His career was effectively finished after he was banned for going on a rebel tour to South Africa in 1983-84. He also played for Glamorgan and Worcestershire.

1971
Many cricketers have a mid-life crisis, in the course of which they reinvent themselves, but nobody can match New Zealand's efficient, un-fussy opener Mark Richardson, who was born today. When Richardson began his first-class career with Auckland, he was a left-arm spinner who batted No. 10. But after suffering an attack of the yips, he concentrated on his batting to increasingly good effect. He was 30 when he made his Test debut, and hardly looked back after making 99 in his second Test, against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2000-01.

1927
Pelham Warner made the first ball-by-ball radio broadcast from Lord's on the first day of the match between Middlesex and Nottinghamshire. The BBC had asked for a perch in the pavilion, but instead were stuck next to the clock at the Nursery End. The experiment was deemed a success and was repeated for Eton v Harrow and Oxford v Cambridge, two games of social, if not general, importance.

1983
More World Cup offspinning derring-do. It's a slightly odd stat that Vic Marks is the only English spinner to take two ODI five-fors, as he only ever took one for Somerset. The first came on this day, against Sri Lanka on his home ground, at Taunton. After David Gower smacked five sixes in a brilliant 130, Marks flighted his way to 5 for 39 as England won comfortably.

1939
Birth of England's most famous female cricketer. Rachael Heyhoe-Flint hit the first six in women's Test history - against Australia at The Oval in 1963 - and was a fine batsman and captain of her country. But her real contribution came in bringing women's cricket into the public eye. She helped organise the inaugural World Cup in 1973 - and then lifted the trophy when England won it. A year earlier she had been awarded the MBE. Heyhoe-Flint, who also played hockey for England, was a key campaigner in women being allowed membership of MCC.

1954
Birth of the dogged Australian opener John Dyson, who had the misfortune to make his maiden Test century in one of his country's most spectacular defeats - at Headingley in 1981. In all, Dyson played 30 Tests, but an average of 26 did him a Ramprakashian injustice. He was also famous for a succession of breathtaking outfield catches for New South Wales. He later took to coaching, working with Sri Lanka and then with West Indies.

1995
England's hopes of feeding on the carcass of West Indies cricket after they had been dethroned by Australia took a blow when they were smashed by nine wickets inside four days in the first Test, at Headingley. This was a mixed day for English sport: the football team were thumped 3-1 by Brazil in the Umbro Cup, but Rob Andrew's last-minute drop-goal gave the rugby side a famous World Cup win over Australia.

1978
A first-over specialist is born. Daryl Tuffey, a strapping fast-medium bowler from New Zealand, had an amazing penchant for picking up wicktes in the first over of games, both Tests and one-dayers. After a quiet start he settled into a quality groove as the sort of player capable of performing well on most surfaces, and his finest hour was 6 for 54 to help New Zealand tie the three-Test series with England in Auckland in 2001-02. He later joined the rebel Indian Cricket League.

1942
In the age Before Murali, Somachandra de Silva, who was born today, was probably Sri Lanka's best spin bowler. He was 39 when Sri Lanka played their inaugural Test, and was the first to take a five-for - 5 for 59 against Pakistan in Faisalabad later that winter. He bowed out after their famous draw at Lord's in 1984, when he bowled impressively for figures of 45-16-85-2.

1967
Birth of one of the first men to be punished for match-fixing. The international career of South African seamer Henry Williams - seven one-day internationals and an average of 25 - would have been largely forgettable had he not become embroiled in the scandal. Williams and Herschelle Gibbs were banned from international cricket for six months in 2000, when they admitted accepting money from Hansie Cronje to underperform in a one-day international. Williams agreed to concede more than 50 runs off his 10 overs. As it transpired, he was injured and bowled only 11 balls.

Other birthdays
1935 Fazal-ur-Rehman (Pakistan)
1975 Mithra Wettimuny (Sri Lanka)