Macko the magnificent
1983 One of the best days of the late, great Malcolm Marshall's career came in the first Test against India at Kanpur
One of the best days of the late, great Malcolm Marshall's career came in the first Test against India at Kanpur. After spanking a Test-best 92 he produced a devastating opening spell of 8-5-9-4 (including Sunil Gavaskar second ball for 0) as India closed the second day at 34 for 5 in reply to West Indies' 454. An innings victory was duly wrapped up on the fourth day, with Marshall grabbing match figures of 8 for 66. The victory had a whiff of revenge about it - four months earlier India had stunned West Indies with victory in the World Cup final at Lord's.
1948
Birth of England's unheralded seam bowler Mike Hendrick. His average of
25.83 is lower than those of Larwood, Snow, Botham, Fraser or Gough, but
he was nowhere near as famed as that quintet. That owed much to his
penchant for the inconspicuous contribution: in 30 Tests Hendrick didn't
once take a five-for, and his best figures were 4 for 28 against India
at Edgbaston in 1974. But he was a very fine bowler, unstinting in his
accuracy and capable of appreciable bounce and seam movement. His finest
hour came at Headingley in 1977, when a brace of four-fors helped
England regain the Ashes. Appropriately, Hendrick was overshadowed by
Geoff Boycott, who made his 100th first-class hundred on his home
ground.
1989
An unlikely matchwinning bowler for England in their Nehru Cup match
with Pakistan at Cuttack. Graham Gooch took 3 for 19 (including Wasim
Akram first ball) as England eased home by four wickets, but some of
Pakistan's batting gave one-day cricket a bad name: Javed Miandad took
51 balls over 14, and worse still, Shoaib Mohammad - the anti-Kalu in
these pre-pinch-hitting days - took 34 balls over three runs.
1999
Another spectacular performance from Azhar Mahmood gave Pakistan victory
in the Sharjah final. He took 5 for 28 as Sri Lanka were skittled for
123, having earlier looked likely winners when they held Pakistan to 211
for 9. It completed a good week's work for Azhar, who three days earlier
had taken 6 for 18 against West Indies. But the wickets soon dried up -
in his next eight one-dayers, he took only two.
1967
Western Australia medium-pacer Ian Brayshaw took all ten wickets
against Victoria, only the third ten-for in Sheffield Shield history.
His 10 for 44 at Perth came from 17.6 overs - this was in the days of
eight-ball overs - and his scalps included Bill Lawry, Bob Cowper and
Keith Stackpole.
1994
A fractured thumb for Ian Healy as Pakistan thrashed Australia by nine
wickets in the one-dayer at Rawalpindi. It meant that Healy was absent
from the third Test between the sides, when he was replaced by Phil
Emery - the only match Healy missed in an 11-year, 119-Test career.
Pakistan easily overhauled a difficult target of 251. Saeed Anwar and
Inzamam-ul-Haq flayed an unbroken 160 for the second wicket, and victory
was completed with 11 overs to spare.
1995
An unremarkable one-dayer between South Africa and Zimbabwe at Harare
was enlivened when Fanie de Villiers bowled the first ball of what
turned out to be the last over with a paper cup. It was that sort of
game. South Africa made 239 and with Hansie Cronje taking 4 for 33,
Zimbabwe never got close, falling to defeat by 112 runs.
Other birthdays
1961 Sanath Kaluperuma (Sri Lanka)
1966 Blair Hartland (New Zealand)
1978 Owais Shah (England)