Majestic Majid

Majid Khan: sometimes gave the impression that he wasn't really trying © Getty Images Enlarge

1946
Birth of the regal Majid Khan, cousin of Imran, who was picked primarily as a bowler when he made his Test debut at 18 but was soon ensconced in the middle order by virtue of his scintillating strokeplay. He became the first Pakistani, and the first person for 42 years, to make a Test hundred before lunch, against New Zealand in Karachi in 1976-77. But his most celebrated knocks came at a lower level: he led Punjab University to victory over Karachi with an unbeaten double-hundred after they had been 5 for 4, and he smashed 147 in 89 minutes for Pakistan against Glamorgan - who he later represented with distinction - in 1967, an innings that included 13 sixes, five in one over from the offspinner Roger Davis. A Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1970, Majid made almost 4000 runs in 63 Tests before becoming an ICC match referee and later chief executive of the PCB.

1960
Birth of the little West Indian wizard Gus Logie. A brilliant short leg and a dangerous counter-attacker at No. 5 or 6, Logie specialised in the punchy, initiative-seizing cameo. In tandem with Jeff Dujon he was a regular pain in the neck for England, most notably at Lord's in 1988 (when West Indies were 54 for 5) and in Trinidad in 1989-90 (when they were 29 for 5). A glorious, impish batsman of just 5 ft 4 ins, Logie played his last Test at Edgbaston in 1991 and finished with 2470 runs at 35.79. He later took to coaching, which included stints with Canada during the 2003 World Cup, and West Indies, till the end of 2004. He was the coach of Bermuda until September 2009.

1975
The tall and lanky fast bowler Stuart Clark, born today, had a dream start to his Test career at the age of 30 in 2006, winning the Player-of-the-Series award in South Africa for 20 wickets at 15.75. An uncomfortable prospect, especially early in a spell, Clark also picked up 26 wickets at 17 in the 2006-07 Ashes, which Australia won 5-0. He became a regular in the Test XI, before injuries took their toll. He was forced to give up hopes of a longer international cricket - though he didn't retire - when the selectors chose to go with younger bowlers following the 2009 Ashes. Clark then redirected his energies towards New South Wales' cricket, and in 2011 became the general manager of the Sydney Sixers, a team in the Twenty20 Big Bash League.

1971
When he was the top-scorer on either side in the 1997 Ashes series with 556 runs, the tall, long-nosed Matthew Elliott looked a class act who was there to stay. But within a year of becoming a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1998, he was out of the Australian set-up. Poor form certainly contributed to his demise - he made three ducks in six innings in the West Indies in 1998-99 - but he did himself few favours by getting on the wrong side of Steve Waugh during that tour. He also played for Glamorgan in 2000, 2004 and 2005, and for Yorkshire as a replacement in 2002.

1996
In Nairobi, Muttiah Muralitharan and Romesh Kaluwitharana rained on Kenya's parade. In the first official one-day international there, Murali took 4 for 18 and Kalu thrashed an 89-ball ton as Sri Lanka eased home by seven wickets, with almost 20 overs to spare, in the first match of the Kenya Centenary Cup.

1973
England's leading female legspinner was born. At the age of six, Kathryn Leng informed her primary-school teacher that she would play cricket for England, and she was true to her word. Also a fine middle-order bat, Leng made history in 1999 when she became the first woman to play in the men's Bradford League. She also became the first woman to play in a university match, for Leeds/Bradford UCCE.

1984
The first floodlit one-day international outside Australia took place in New Delhi, and Kepler Wessels broke the habit of a lifetime by playing some shots. His 107 - the only ODI hundred of his career - led Australia to a comfortable 48-run victory over India in the first of a five-match series.

1988
In the second Test in Faisalabad Javed Miandad was given out lbw for only the fourth time in 63 Test innings on home soil. But by then he had made 107, his 19th Test hundred, and denied Australia's attempts to square the series. In all Miandad was given out leg-before only eight times in Tests in Pakistan and 25 times overseas.

Other birthdays
1964 Irfan Bhatti (Pakistan)
1973 Colin Stuart (West Indies)