A historic day for India

Fans invade the Oval pitch after India's win © Getty Images Enlarge

1971
India's first Test win in England. At The Oval, after conceding a first-innings lead of 71, India regrouped to bowl England out for 101, which was their lowest score against the visitors. The wrecker-in-chief was legspinner Bhagwath Chandrasekhar with 6 for 38. England fought bravely in attempting to defend a target of 173. Ray Illingworth, the captain, bowled well on the slow, turning track and set his fields intelligently, but India had a day and a half to chase the target. It took them three hours to get the final 97 runs, but they got there in the end. The win gave them the series 1-0 and brought to an end England's record run of 26 official Tests without defeat.

2015
Not quite the sign-off he'd have eyed - but it did not detract from an immense career. Kumar Sangakkara managed only 32 and 18 in his last Test, Sri Lanka's 278-run defeat to India at the P Sara Oval. KL Rahul's hundred, supported by half-centuries from Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha, set the base. Angelo Mathews' fifth hundred as Sri Lanka captain couldn't prevent India taking a sizeable lead, which M Vijay (82) and Ajinkya Rahane (126) promptly furthered. Spinners Amit Mishra and R Ashwin finished with seven wickets each; the latter dismissed Sangakkara in all of his innings in the two Tests.

1973
Lord's provided a suitable stage for 652 for 8 and win by an innings. Sobers later admitted that on the first evening (when he was 31 not out at the close), he had spent all night drinking port and brandy and was not in the best state when he resumed his innings. <i>Wisden reported that he retired hurt with a stomach disorder, but Sobers admitted that he was worried about vomiting. The 2-0 defeat ended the Test career of the England captain, Ray Illingworth, who was replaced by Mike Denness.

2021
Shaheen Shah Afridi's maiden ten-wicket haul set up a big win for Pakistan in a rain-shortened Test in Kingston. He took six in the first innings to dismiss West Indies for 150 and give Pakistan a huge lead, a scenario that had been hard to foresee on the first morning, when they were 3 for 2. Fawad Alam led the recovery, with his fourth hundred in eight Tests. He added 158 with Babar Azam and took Pakistan to 302 on day three after all of day two was lost to rain. The bowlers did the rest, and the teams shared the series 1-1, West Indies having won the first Test by a wicket.

1938
At Wells, Somerset's Arthur Wellard thumped five sixes off an over from Kent's England allrounder Frank Woolley. This equalled a world record that lasted until Garry Sobers hit six sixes off Malcolm Nash in 1968. Wellard was well named: before Ian Botham struck 80 sixes in 1985, our Arthur was the only man to hit 50 in a season, which he did four times, including the round number of 66 sixes in 1935.

1980
The first floodlit match in England, at Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC, where Essex took on the touring West Indians. The official attendance was 11,073, and Essex, with Graham Gooch leading the way with 111, won a rain-affected game by virtue of a faster scoring rate.

1959
The pace of Fred Trueman and Brian Statham was too much for India - for the last time that summer, but not the first. All out for 194 at The Oval, they lost by an innings to complete the only 5-0 whitewash ever inflicted by England.

1974
The end of a match played on an Oval pitch that was a throwback to the featherbeds of the pre-war years. The first four days of the third Test between England and Pakistan produced 1038 runs and just 13 wickets, the last day a positively thrilling 201 runs and eight wickets. The match was, unsurprisingly, drawn, with England's first innings only being completed midway through the fifth afternoon. It did mean that Pakistan completed their tour without sustaining a defeat.

1972
Old Trafford witnessed the first century in any one-day international when Dennis Amiss hit 103 off 134 balls against Australia. England reached 226 for 4, to win by six wickets with nearly six overs to spare. Amiss also hit the second ODI century, against New Zealand in Swansea in 1973 - and the first century in a World Cup match, against India at Lord's in 1975.

Other birthdays
1851 Tom Kendall (Australia)
1909 Ronnie Grieveson (South Africa)
1959 Adrian Kuiper (South Africa)