August 21 down the years

Who writes your scripts?

Botham comes back from a ban, and how

Ian Botham took his 356th wicket, breaking the world Test record  •  PA Photos

Ian Botham took his 356th wicket, breaking the world Test record  •  PA Photos

1986
Nobody had a greater sense of theatre than Ian Botham. Restored to the England side after a ban for admitting to the use of marijuana, he took a wicket with his first ball against New Zealand at The Oval, having Bruce Edgar caught by Graham Gooch, whose remark said it all: "Who writes your scripts?" Botham had just taken his 355th Test wicket, equalling the then world record. Naturally, he soon got the 356th, Jeff Crowe lbw, and followed it up with a rapid fifty. Beefy was well and truly back.
2003
Speaking of scripts, Yasir Hameed had the perfect one written for his Test debut, in which he scored a hundred in each innings in Karachi against Bangladesh. His first-innings 170 saved Pakistan from an embarrassing collapse (only one other batter crossed 50) and in the second innings he added 134 with fellow debutant Mohammad Hafeez as Pakistan won by nine wickets. It was also a memorable debut for fast bowler Shabbir Ahmed, who took eight wickets, including five in the second, and a quiet one for Umar Gul.
2021
Southern Brave Men and Oval Invincible Women were the inaugural winners of the Hundred, at Lord's. The women's 48-run win was the more emphatic one - Marizanne Kapp's outswingers sent back the top three Brave batters for ducks and she returned to take the final wicket to bowl them out for 73. Brave's men made up for the women's defeat with a 32-run win over Birmingham Phoenix's big-hitting side. Phoenix lost their openers early, chasing 169, and although Liam Livingstone, the tournament's leading run scorer, lashed a few into the crowd, his dismissal - off a direct hit - ended Phoenix's chances of grabbing the trophy.
1975
Simon Katich, born today, was on the brink of a Test call-up in Sri Lanka when he contracted chicken pox and was quarantined. But after a stellar 2000-01 - 1282 first-class runs and a century against every state - he was picked for the 2001 Ashes tour. Replacing the injured Steve Waugh for the fourth Test, he made 15 and 0 not out on debut and had to wait two years for another opportunity. It came against Zimbabwe, against whom he took 6 for 65 with his chinamen in the second innings in Sydney. Returning to the SCG later in the summer against India, he registered his maiden Test century. He was in and out of the side in the next few years and was one of the casualties of the 3-1 Ashes loss in 2010-11 - despite missing three Tests due to injury - and was not given a Cricket Australia contract for the next season.
1914
One of England's most prominent and controversial legspinners is born. Doug Wright was prominent because he took seven hat-tricks - still a record in first-class cricket - and had his moments in the Test team too, including 7 for 105 in Sydney in 1946-47. But controversial because his 108 Test wickets cost 39.11 each: he simply bowled too many bad balls. Against the strong Australian teams he faced, this was asking for trouble. He was on the winning side only once in 14 Ashes Tests.
1988
Yorkshire beat Surrey by three wickets at Chingford to win the inaugural women's County Championship.
1907
Birth of the first woman to captain England in a Test. In the inaugural match, in Brisbane in 1934-35, Betty Archdale hit an unbeaten 32, her highest Test score, out of an unexceptional total of 154 - which was enough to win the match by nine wickets. Australia made only 138 and lost the three-match series 2-0. Archdale went on to live in Australia, where she died in January 2000 aged 92.
1878
Against Kent at The Oval, Surrey wicketkeeper Ted Pooley made his eighth stumping of the match, then a record in first-class cricket. Against Sussex on the same ground in 1868, he made 12 dismissals, another world record at the time and still the record for a first-class match in England. One of the best keepers of his day, he never won an England cap - although he would have played in the inaugural Test, in Melbourne in 1876-77, if he hadn't been in jail. He was arrested following a betting scam in New Zealand.
2016
New Zealand captain Suzie Bates' 46-ball 52 took Southern Vipers to a seven-wicket win over Western Storm in the final of the inaugural Women's Super League, England's first franchise-based T20 competition, in Chelmsford. Bates' half-century overshadowed that of her compatriot Rachel Priest, for Western Storm. Vipers, who won five out of their six matches, were led by Charlotte Edwards, who had been forced out of the England captaincy earlier in the summer.
Other birthdays
1905 Stan Worthington (England)
1905 Errol Holmes (England)
1935 Ken Taylor (England)
1961 VB Chandrasekhar (India)
1970 Keith Semple (West Indies)