Stop the clock

All Today's Yesterdays - November 12 down the years

November 11 | November 13

1921
The quickest Test hundred. Australia's Jack Gregory needed only 70 minutes to reach three figures in the second Test against South Africa at Johannesburg. It's not the quickest in terms of balls faced - Gregory took 67, Viv Richards needed only 56 in his Antigua massacre of England in 1985-86 - but in those days of faster over rates Gregory took 11 minutes less than Richards as he flayed South Africa all round the Old Wanderers. The match itself ended in a draw. Gregory put on 209 for the third wicket with Herbie Collins, who made 203. The game was also notable for the bizarre dismissal of Billy Zulch, who was out hit wicket in the first innings when a piece of his bat broke off and flew into the stumps.

1910
Birth of the brilliant South African batsman Dudley Nourse, who used all the power generated by his massive forearms to crunch bowlers into submission off the back foot. He played 35 Tests between 1935 and 1951, averaging 53 (this in a side which won only two of those Tests). His finest hour came at Trent Bridge in 1951 when, aged 40, he defied the pain from a pinned broken thumb to grind out 208 in almost ten hours. It was worth it, though - his innings set South Africa up for their first Test win for 16 years. He was the son of "Old Dave" Nourse, who played 45 consecutive Tests for South Africa at the start of the 20th century. Dudley died in Durban in 1981.

1995
Narendra Hirwani, playing his first Test for almost five years, ripped through New Zealand in the third Test at Cuttack, but with monsoon rains allowing only 11 hours of play the match ended in a draw. In fact the whole series, which India won 1-0, was a bit of a damp squib, with only 34 of the scheduled 90 hours played in the series. As the match petered out Roger Twose, formerly of Warwickshire, finally got a bat in his tenth day of Test cricket (he made his debut in the rain-ruined second match at Madras). And he treated his innings as if it was his last, enduring 204 minutes and 170 balls for 36.

1984
A duff pitch in Peshawar precipitated a batting masterclass from Javed Miandad as Pakistan beat New Zealand by 46 runs in the first one-dayer. In a rain-reduced 39-overs game, Miandad made 80 not out in a match where only one other batsman passed 29 (Ian Smith, who cracked 59 at a time when the game was up for New Zealand). Pakistan's other matchwinner was the unheralded seamer Zakir Khan, who scythed through the top order with 4 for 19 on his debut. It was a false dawn, though - Zakir managed only 12 wickets in a further 16 ODIs.

1993
That great metronome Glenn McGrath made his debut in the first Test between Australia and New Zealand at Perth, and he gave a hint of what was to come with first-innings figures of 39-12-92-2 (as well as a first-ball duck). Against all expectations, the match was dominated for a time by New Zealand, who, anchored by 143 from Andrew Jones, took a first-innings lead of 22. Then Michael Slater and Mark Taylor lashed 198 for the first wicket, and New Zealand were ultimately left hanging on for a draw. Slater was out for 99.

Other birthdays

1954 Bharat Reddy (India)
1971 Shakeel Ahmed (Pakistan)
1977 Shadab Kabir (Pakistan)