The Don's uninspiring debut

Not a great start, but the best was yet to come © ESPNcricinfo Ltd Enlarge

1928
Debut of The Don. There was little hint of what was to follow as Don Bradman made only 18 and 1 in his first Test appearance, against England in Brisbane. Bradman was only 20, but fellow new boy Bert Ironmonger was 46, Australia's oldest Test debutant at the time. It's not a match either man would have remembered too fondly - England won by a mighty 675 runs. Injuries to Jack Gregory, who didn't bat in either innings, and Charles Kelleway, who didn't bat in the second, didn't help, but even allowing for that Australia were hammered: they mustered just 122 and 66.

1857
Birth of Bobby Abel, nicknamed the Guv'nor. He played 13 Tests for England but is best remembered for his work at Surrey, where he was idolised. He was synonymous with Surrey cricket - two of his sons also played for them, and his 357 against Somerset at The Oval in 1899 remains the highest score in Surrey's history. In all Abel scored over 33,000 first-class runs. The highlight of his Test career came in Sydney in 1891-92, when he became the first Englishman to carry his bat. He died in London in 1936.

1998
A famous day for Zimbabwe. They beat Pakistan by seven wickets in Peshawar, their first overseas victory at the 15th attempt. Pakistan took a first-innings lead of 68 - it would have been many more, but for Neil Johnson's brilliant maiden Test hundred - but they were soon 41 for 6 as the none-too-threatening duo of Henry Olonga and Pommie Mbangwa sliced through the middle order. Murray Goodwin then shepherded Zimbabwe to a seven-wicket victory, and rain and fog in the next two Tests meant that was enough to give them the series.

1946
Birth of the tragic Ken Wadsworth, one of New Zealand's best wicketkeepers, who played 33 Tests before he died of cancer when only 29. Wadsworth worked hard at his keeping and batting and made himself into a very handy performer - in his first 11 Tests he averaged only 7.83, in his last 22 it rose to 29.96. Wadsworth is often remembered for crucially dropping Geoff Arnold before he had scored in the second Test at Lord's in 1973. Arnold went on to add 92 for the ninth wicket with Keith Fletcher, and New Zealand had to wait another ten years for their first victory over England. But Wadsworth was there to hammer the winning boundary through cover when New Zealand first beat Australia - in Christchurch in 1973-74, in a match in which Glenn Turner scored two centuries.

1998
South Africa sealed their first victory over West Indies - it was only the second Test between the sides - in a match tight enough to make a mockery of what followed (South Africa won the series 5-0 with four much easier victories), as they squeezed to their target of 164 with six wickets down on a tense final day. It was a very good match for Shaun Pollock: he took 9 for 103, scored his 1000th Test run and took his 100th Test wicket in his 26th match - only Ian Botham (21), Vinoo Mankad (23) and Kapil Dev (25) had achieved the feat more quickly.

1999
A fairly routine six-wicket win for Sri Lanka over Zimbabwe in the second Test in Harare was notable for an extraordinary performance from left-arm seamer Nuwan Zoysa, who took a hat-trick with his first three deliveries in the second over of the match. He trapped Trevor Gripper and Neil Johnson lbw, either side of having Murray Goodwin caught behind. It was the first hat-trick by a Sri Lankan, and the earliest in any Test at the time. Andy Flower led a Zimbabwe revival but Tillakaratne Dilshan played a match-winning hand, stroking an unbeaten 163 in only his second Test.

1988
Birth of Australian opener Phillip Hughes, whose technique is more Dilshan than Dravid. Hughes was expected to fill the gap left by Matthew Hayden's departure, and for some time it seemed he would, despite his problems with the short ball. In his debut series in South Africa in 2009, Hughes became the youngest man to score a century in both innings of a Test. But he struggled in the two Ashes series that followed, and with Shane Watson blooming into an attacking Test opener, Hughes lost his place in the side. It was only after Simon Katich lost his central contract in 2011 that Hughes returned, again in South Africa.

1973
A century on first-class debut for Tehzib-ul-Ghani - at the grand old cricketing age of 44. He made 104 for Pakistan's Commerce Bank against Khairpur at Karachi, but Tehzibul played only one more match and had one more innings. He made 3, so ended with a first-class average of 53.50.

Other birthdays
1907 John Arnold (England)
1971 Heath Davis (New Zealand)