June 15 down the years

Invasion of the Invincibles

Bradman and Co wade into England

Don Bradman scored 138 in the first Test of his farewell series  •  Getty Images

Don Bradman scored 138 in the first Test of his farewell series  •  Getty Images

1948
The first signs of greatness from a side that would later be known as the Invincibles. Don Bradman's Australians hammered a very good England side by eight wickets in the first Test at Trent Bridge, at the beginning of a series they eventually won 4-0. Bradman (138) and Lindsay Hassett (137) gave the Aussies a monstrous first-innings lead of 344. Denis Compton, with a brilliant 184, saved some face for England, but the result was never really in doubt. All this, and Ray Lindwall - the Aussies' main strike bowler - did not bowl any of the 183 overs in England's second innings because of injury.
1929
Gubby Allen arrived late for Middlesex's Championship match against Lancashire at Lord's after having to work at a London department store that morning. When he came on to bowl, he took all ten wickets for 40 in 25.3 overs, including the last four wickets in five balls. It was the last occasion a bowler took all ten wickets in an innings at Lord's.
1955
Australia scored 758 for 8 in the fifth Test against West Indies in Kingston, their highest Test total. Their innings had started badly when they stumbled to 7 for 2, but a Test-record five individual hundreds from Colin McDonald (127), Neil Harvey (207), Keith Miller (109), Ron Archer (128) and Richie Benaud (121) left West Indies wilting. Benaud's hundred came in 78 minutes, and for the first time in Test history five bowlers conceded 100 runs, and a sixth (Garry Sobers) went for 99. Australia went on to win the match by an innings and 82 runs.
2018
Afghanistan's much anticipated debut Test had no fairy-tale ending: they crashed and burned to a massive loss in Bengaluru in two days to India, the world's No. 1 Test team. Shikhar Dhawan became the first Indian to score a century before lunch on the first day of the match, and Afghanistan's danger man, legspinner Rashid Khan, was ruthlessly targeted, going for 154 runs in his 34.5 overs. When it came their time to bat, Afghanistan were bundled out twice in under 67 overs, for 212 runs in all. It was the shortest Test ever played in the subcontinent, and the 24 wickets that fell on the second day were the most that fell in a day since 1902.
1946
Birth of Roger Tolchard, the Leicestershire wicketkeeper who ended up playing for England as a specialist batter in India in 1976-77. He was usually a dasher but ground out a vital five-hour 67 in his debut innings, in Calcutta. All four of his Tests came on that tour, all minus the wicketkeeping gloves, and he went on to make over 15,000 first-class runs. Another Roger, Roger Twose, is his nephew.
2017
A big moment for Scotland cricket. Their 26-run win over Zimbabwe in the ODI in Edinburgh was their first over a Full Member team. Captain and opener Kyle Coetzer made 109 and Craig Wallace and Michael Leask chipped in with lower-order fifties to take Scotland to 317. After a rain interruption during the chase, Zimbabwe were set a new target of 299 in 43 overs. Sean Williams and Malcolm Waller took charge, but Zimbabwe were bowled out in the 42nd over. Left-arm spinner Con de Lange took a career-best 5 for 60.
1997
Sri Lanka's first Test in the Caribbean ended in a six-wicket defeat in Antigua. The usual first-innings five-for from Muttiah Muralitharan had given Sri Lanka a slender lead, but they fell away for 152 in the second innings. That left West Indies to chase 187, and their opening pair of Stuart Williams and Sherwin Campbell polished off 160 of them to leave victory a formality.
1969
Birth of Maurice Odumbe, who was Kenya captain when they pulled off one of the most stunning upsets in sporting history, a 73-run victory over West Indies in Poona in the 1995-96 World Cup. For good measure, Odumbe was Man of the Match: he returned the startling figures of 10-3-15-3, and chipped in with a run-out as well. He was instrumental in Kenya getting to the World Cup semi-finals in 2003, but the following year was slapped with a five-year ban for associating with a bookmaker.
1995
The start of an amazing County Championship match in Luton. Having made only 127 themselves, Essex demolished Northants for just 46, with Mark Ilott taking an all-lbw hat-trick. Northants had been 45 for 4 before losing six wickets for one run. Essex were then cleaned up for 107, with another England left-armer, Paul Taylor, taking 7 for 50, and Northants squeaked home by two wickets.
1982
Birth of yet another Bangladesh left-arm spinner. Abdur Razzak had trouble with a suspect action but still managed to become a regular in the one-day team. He made his one-day debut in 2004 and took his first five-for against Zimbabwe in 2006 - the year he made his Test debut. A year after playing the 2007 World Cup and World T20, Razzak was reported for a suspect action again and this time an independent analysis found that he bent his arm up to 28 degrees. The ICC cleared him a year later and he went on to feature in the next four World T20s.
Other birthdays
1874 George Rowe (South Africa)
1924 Ebbu Ghazali (Pakistan)
1935 Margaret Rutherford (England)
1937 Prince Indrajitsinhji (India)
1967 Denise Reid (South Africa)
1977 Ahmed Kamal (Bangladesh)