January 30 down the years

A Canberra classic

One of the greatest women's Tests of them all

Alana King runs out Anya Shrubsole in the dying moments of the last day to reduce England to 244 for 8 chasing 257  •  Getty Images

Alana King runs out Anya Shrubsole in the dying moments of the last day to reduce England to 244 for 8 chasing 257  •  Getty Images

2022
After a one-sided men's Ashes series, the women's equivalent produced a stone-cold thriller that ended in a draw in Canberra. England made the highest fourth-innings score in women's Test history, 244, and fell 13 runs short. With three overs and three wickets left, they needed 17 to win; then two batters fell off successive balls by legspinner Alana King and England were nine down. Annabel Sutherland, who had five wickets in the match, had one last crack, but tailenders Kate Cross and Sophie Ecclestone saw her, and King's last over, out. Australia's captain, Meg Lanning, made 93 in their first innings, and declared twice in pursuit of a victory they very nearly achieved. Her counterpart Heather Knight was Player of the Match for her epic 168 over more than seven hours in England's first innings, and 48 in the chase.
1993
The winner-takes-all clash between Australia and West Indies was decided today in one extraordinary spell. Curtly Ambrose shoved Australia off the Perth trampoline with seven wickets for one run in 32 balls - from 85 for 2, they were 119 all out. West Indies closed the first day on 135 for 1, and that was effectively that. The match was over by lunch on the third day, with Ian Bishop taking six in the second innings. His haul included Allan Border, who bagged the only pair of his first-class career. The WACA groundsman was subsequently dismissed for preparing such a home away from home for Ambrose and friends.
1929
Birth of South Africa's greatest spin bowler. Hugh Tayfield was a master of flight and accuracy, and at times could be virtually unhittable. He was nicknamed "Toey" because of his peculiar habit of stubbing his toe into the ground before bowling. The highlight of his career was his 9 for 113 against England in Johannesburg in 1956-57, when he bowled throughout the last day, sending down 35 eight-ball overs to lead South Africa to a thrilling 17-run victory. That brought them back into the series at 1-2, and Tayfield squared it in the next one with a second-innings 6 for 78 as England fell 59 short of the 189 they needed for victory. He also equalled Bill Edrich's Test record of marrying five times. Tayfield died in Durban in 1994.
1990
Birth of left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc, who became a potent wicket-taking option in ODIs for Australia. He took three five-wicket hauls in his first 17 matches, and went to on to be something of an ODI World Cup talisman, finishing with bagfuls in 2015 (when he was Player of the Tournament) and 2019, and taking plenty more in 2023. None of which is to make light of his prowess in Test cricket, where he went past 300 wickets in his 74th Test. Highlights include a golden run in 2016, during which he took 50 wickets at 22.5 from eight Tests, including 11 in Galle. He carried that form through to the 2017-18 Ashes, where he took 19 wickets in his first three Tests, by which time Australia had secured the urn. In the very next series, in South Africa, he was took nine wickets in a big win in the first match, in Durban. His batting skills are pretty reasonable too - he fell just one short of a Test century in Mohali in 2013. Starc has also been an in-demand T20 enforcer when he has played. His value was underscored when he became the IPL's most expensive buy in 2023, when Kolkata Knight Riders bought him for about $US 2.9 million.
1883
The Ashes were returned to England in the form of a burnt bail in an urn. After losing in 1882 at The Oval - in the wake of which a mock obituary appeared in the Sporting Times - England went to Australia next season and won 2-1. Australia won the first Test and England took the second by an innings and 27 runs. In the third, at the SCG, Fred Spofforth, the "Demon" from 1882, took seven in England's second innings, but the target of 153 was too much for Australia. England opener Dick Barlow took 7 for 40 as the hosts were bowled out for 83. It is widely believed that at the end of the series a group of Melbourne women gave England captain Ivo Bligh a small urn containing the ashes of a bail used in the third match.
1995
A trademark England 1990s Ashes victory. Trademark in that it was improbable, was achieved through high-class, high-octane cricket... and the series was dead. Going into the last day in Adelaide, England were effectively 154 for 6 in their second innings, but Phil DeFreitas slammed a sensational 88 off 95 balls, including 22 off one over from Craig McDermott. Then Devon Malcolm blew away the Australian top order, and after some nerve-jangling tail-end resistance, Chris Lewis and Malcolm wrapped up a famous win with 5.5 overs to spare.
1994
A memorable day for Kapil Dev, who equalled Sir Richard Hadlee's record of 431 Test wickets when he dismissed Don Anurasiri to wrap up India's innings victory over Sri Lanka in Bangalore. Nine days later Kapil moved above Hadlee when he snared Hashan Tillakaratne in Ahmedabad. Earlier in this match India had made 541 for 6 declared, the fifth successive home Test in which they had passed 500.
1942
A sanguine seamer is born. David Brown played 26 Tests for England between 1965 and 1969, and though his contributions were fairly understated - only two five-fors - his average (28.31) puts him just ahead of Harold Larwood and Ian Botham. He often found overseas conditions more to his liking, and took 5 for 63 - including three wickets in one eight-ball over with the second new ball - to set up England's innings victory in Sydney in 1965-66.
1853
The right place at the right time. Leland Hone's first-class experience was limited to two uneventful matches for MCC in 1878, but when Lord Harris found himself about to take an MCC side to Australia without a wicketkeeper, he called on Hone (himself only an occasional keeper). Hone's third first-class match was the Sydney Test, where he became the first man to play for England without having played for a county. There were five more outings - all for MCC - before Hone returned to Ireland, the country of his birth.
1988
Chris Broad found himself £500 out of pocket when he smashed down his stumps after being bowled by Steve Waugh in the Bicentennial Test, in Sydney. Broad had made 139, his fourth hundred in six Tests in Australia, but the tour management didn't take too kindly to his last shot - a withering pull that sent the stumps flying - and fined him. Wisden Cricket Monthly described it as a "pathetic display of pique".
1934
Already the only Australian to play Test cricket in his fifties, and the second-oldest Test player of all time, left-arm spinner Bert "Dainty" Ironmonger played his last Sheffield Shield game today, at the age of 51 years, 298 days.
1985
Birth of Suraj Randiv, the Sri Lankan offie who is probably best remembered for courting the ire of India when he bowled a no-ball to deny Virender Sehwag a hundred at the end of an ODI in Dambulla. The previous month, Randiv had a forgettable Test debut, going for 222 runs for two wickets in an SSC runathon against India. In between the two matches, he got nine wickets in a Test against the same opposition. Randiv became Sri Lanka's second-choice spinner in Tests for a time but eventually lost his place.
Other birthdays
1913 Dickie Fuller (West Indies)
1943 June Stephenson (England)
1951 Trevor Laughlin (Australia)
1959 Alexander Morgan (West Indies)
1961 Ranjith Madurasinghe (Sri Lanka)
1964 Denise Annetts (Australia)
1967 Purnima Rau (India)
1974 Robert Rollins (England)
1977 Alison Hodgkinson (South Africa)