974 runs in a series

All Today's Yesterdays - August 20 down the years

August 19 | August 21

1930
Australia were eventually all out for 695 in the deciding Test at The Oval. Their top score, a 232 which according to Wisden 'overshadowed everything else', set the seal on the young Don Bradman's triumphant first tour of England. It was his last knock of a series in which he scored 974 runs, still a world record, including three scores of over 200. Australia went on to win by an innings and regain the Ashes.

1930
Death of the first batsman to score a Test century - which is understating it a bit. Against England at Melbourne in 1876-77 , Charles Bannerman faced the first ball in Test cricket, scored the first run, the first fifty and the first hundred. By the time he retired hurt with a damaged finger, he'd made 165 of Australia's total of 245, still the highest percentage of a completed innings in all Tests. His highest score in his two subsequent Tests was an unremarkable 30 - but his place in Test history is secure. His brother Alick, a famous stonewalling batsman, also played for Australia.

1900
Second and last day of the only cricket match ever played at the Olympic Games. Devon County Wanderers scored 117 and 145 to beat the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (78 and 26) by 158 runs at the Vélodrome de Vincennes, a cycling track in Paris. Montague Toller took 7 for 10 in that dismal second innings of 26. The French team included such typically French names as Anderson, Attrill, Browning, Robinson and Henry Terry.

1952
The leading England offpsinner of his generation was born. John Emburey took 147 Test wickets, including best figures of 7 for 78 at Sydney in 1986-87. An eccentric but decidedly useful lower-order batsmen, he hit ten Test fifties, including 70 and 74 not out at Karachi in 1987-88. As a replacement for the sacked Mike Gatting, he captained England to two defeats by the all-conquering West Indies in 1988, and is now back at Middlesex after an unsuccessful stint as coach at Northants.

1987
The start of the runfest that was the MCC v Rest of the World match at Lord's. Staged to celebrate MCC's 200th anniversary, the game saw centuries from the G-men: Graham Gooch (117), Mike Gatting (179) and Gordon Greenidge (122) - but it was Sunil Gavaskar's majestic 188 which stole the show. Gavaskar also recorded the only duck of the match when he was cleaned up by Malcolm Marshall in the World's second innings as they chased 353 to win. Rain washed out the final day.

1869
The scorer of the fastest Test half-century was born. When Jack Brown scored his blistering 140 at Melbourne in 1894-95, the first fifty took only 28 minutes, the first hundred only 95, fast enough to win the match and the series. In 1898 Brown scored exactly 300 and shared a colossal stand of 554 with 'Long John' Tunnicliffe for Yorkshire against Derbyshire at Chesterfield. It stood as a world record in first-class cricket until two other Yorkshiremen, Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe, beat it by a single run in 1932.

1992
In their 55 overs against Pakistan at Trent Bridge, England scored 363 for 7, which was then a record for any one-day international. Graeme Hick scored 50 in 34 balls and Waqar Younis 's 11 overs cost him 73 runs. England won by 198 runs.

1865
Birth of the first opener to carry his bat through a Test innings. When South Africa were blasted out for only 47 by England at Cape Town in 1888-89, Bernard Tancred scored 26 not out. Regarded as the best of the early South African batsmen, he was the first to score two centuries in a first-class match there. His brothers Louis and Vincent also opened the batting in Tests.

1919
Death of brilliant wicketkeeper Gregor MacGregor, who made 17 dismissals in his eight Tests for England, the first against Australia at Lord's in 1890 when he was still at Cambridge University. He was also an international rugby three-quarter, helping Scotland beat England four times, including in his last match, in 1896.

1996
Some stars of tomorrow performed today. India beat Pakistan at Lord's in the final of the Under-15 World Challenge. Eight of those finalists have since gone on to play international cricket: Faisal Iqbal, Hasan Raza, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Taufeeq Umar and Yasir Arafat of Pakistan, and Reetinder Sodhi and Mohammad Kaif of India.

Other birthdays
1847 Andrew Greenwood (England)
1909 Alby Roberts (New Zealand)
1921 Jack Wilson (Australia)
1932 Atholl McKinnon (South Africa)
1940 Rex Sellers (Australia)
1956 Alvin Greenidge (West Indies)