18th February...
1855:Australian batsman George Bonnor (17 Tests from 1880 to 1888; 512 runs) was born.
1886: England batsman Wally Hardinge (1 Test in 1921) was born.
1908: Australian Victor Trumper during his innings of 166 against England at Sydney becomes the second batsman to aggregate 2000 Test runs.
1926: West Indian keeper Ralph Legall (4 Tests in 1953) was born.
1930: George Headley scores 112 in the second innings against England at Georgetown after scoring 114 in the first. He became the first West Indian to score Test hundreds in each innings of a match and at 20 years 270 days he also became the youngest to achieve this feat in Test history.
1933: England fast bowler Harold Larwood scores 98 against Australia at Sydney - then the highest Test score by a 'night-watchman' in Tests.
1938: Indian keeper-batsman Farukh Engineer (46 Tests 1961 to 1975; 2611 runs and 82 dismissals) was born.
1954: Australian keeper and later coach of New Zealand Steve Rixon (13 Tests from 1977 to 1984; 47 dismissals) was born.
1966: Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Don Anurasiri (18 Tests from 1986 to 1998; 41 wickets) was born.
1971: Australian leg-spinner Stuart MacGill since 1998 was born.
1975: New Zealand tail-ender Ewan Chatfield almost lost his life when he was hit into his left temple by a ball from England fast bowler Peter Lever in the Auckland Test match. A timely mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by the England physio saved his life.
1977: New Zealand batsman Matthew Bell since 1998 was born.
1982: Indian wicket-keeper "Jenni" Irani (2 Tests in 1947) died in Karachi aged 58.
1989: Pakistani Javed Miandad scores 271 (in 558 minutes, 465 balls, five sixes, 28 fours) at Auckland - the second highest score by a visiting batsman in New Zealand.
1993: Pakistan dismissed for 43 in 19.5 overs by the West Indies at Cape Town - the lowest ever team score in ODIs.
1994: South African off-spinner Hugh "Toey" Tayfield (37 matches from 1949 to 1960; 170 wickets) died aged 65.
1998: Sachin Tendulkar sores his maiden double hundred of his first-class hundred - 204 not out in 269 minutes, 192 balls, 2 sixes, 25 fours - for Mumbai against the Australians at the Brabourne Stadium.
19th February...
1860:
South African batsman Charlie Finlason (1 Test in 1889) was born in London.
1891:
England captain and left-arm spinner Jack White (15 Tests from 1921 to 1931; 49 wickets) was born.
1892:
England captain and batsman Monty Bowden (2 Tests in 1889) died in Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) aged 26.
1922:
England's batsman CAG "Jack" Russell against South Africa at Durban scores 111 after making 140 in the first innings - in his last Test match of his career.
1937:
Australian batsman Norman O'Neill (42 Tests from 1958 to 1965; 2779 runs) was born.
1941:
England batsman Alexander Webbe (1 Test in 1879) died aged 86.
1965:
South African batsman John Commins (3 Tests from 1994 to 1995) was born.
1970:
Sri Lankan left-handed batman and off-spinner Ruwan Kalpage (11 Tests from 1993 to 1999) was born.
1972:
New Zealand opener Glenn Turner carries his bat throughout the innings against West Indies at Kingston to score an unbeaten 223 not out - still the highest score achieved by an individual batsman while carry his bat throughout an innings in Test history.
1977:
Australian Doug Walters scores 250 against New Zealand at Christchurch - still the highest score by a batsman batting at number six in Test cricket.
1980:
England's Ian Botham (114 and 13 wickets) against India at Bombay - became the first all-rounder in Test history to score a hundred and capture over 10 wickets in the same match.
20th February...
1857:
England batsman AP "Bunny" Lucas (5 Tests from 1879 to 1884) was born.
1873:
South African medium pace bowler Dante Parkin (1 Test in 1892) was born.
1882:
England's Dick Barlow and George Ulyett put on 122 against Australia at Sydney - Test cricket's first ever partnership for the opening wicket.
1926:
New Zealand batsman Edgar Meuli (1 Test in 1953) was born.
1937:
Australian keeper William Carkeek (6 Tests in 1912) died aged 58.
1949:
England offie Eddie Hemmings (16 Tests from 1982 to 1991; 43 wickets) was born.
1964:
England captain and keeper Roland Stanyforth (4 Tests in 1927-28) died aged 71.
1957:
South African offie Hugh Tayfield (9-113) against England at Johannesburg - remains the only South African to take nine wickets in a Test innings.
1975:
West Indian left-handed batsman Len Baichan scores an unbeaten 105 against Pakistan at Lahore - on debut. He became the first visiting batsman to do so in Pakistan.
1999:
Pakistan beat India by 46 runs at Calcutta to win the first match in the Asian Test Championships.
21st February...
1883:
South African batsman "Mick" Commaille (12 Tests from 1910 to 1927) was born.
1883:
Australian Jack Blackham (57 and 58 not out) against England at Sydney became the first wicket-keeper to score fifties in each innings of a Test match.
1908:
South African left-arm pace bowler Neville Quinn (12 Tests from 1929 to 1932; 35 wickets) was born.
1911:
Australia beat England by 530 runs at Melbourne - the first ever Test win by any team exceeding 500 runs.
1930:
West Indian opener CA Roach (209) against England at Georgetown became the first West Indian to score a Test double hundred.
1931:
The start of the Durban Test match between South Africa and England had to delayed by 20 minutes because the correct size of the bails was not available and the umpires had to make two sets.
1945:
Indian opening batsman Sudhir Naik (2 Tests in 1974) was born.
1946:
West Indian keeper-batsman Desmond Lewis (3 Tests in 1971) was born. His batting average of 86.33 is only second to Don Bradman for batsmen scoring at least 250-plus runs.
1951:
New Zealand captain and batsman John Parker (36 Tests from 1973 to 1980; 1498 runs) was born.
1965:
West Indies left-handed batsman Keith Arthurton (33 Tests from 1988 to 1995; 1382 runs) was born.
1970:
Australian opening batsman Michael Slater since 1993 was born.
1925:
West Indian left-handed all-rounder Glendon Gibbs (1 Test in 1955) died aged 53.
22nd February...
1859:
Australian off-spinner George Palmer (17 Tests from 1880 to 1886; 78 wickets) was born.
1917:
England batsman JDB "Jack" Robertson (11 Tests from 1947 to 1952; 881 runs, avg. 46.37) was born.
1930:
England batsman GB Legge playing in his last Test match scores 196 against New Zealand at Auckland.
1963:
England fast bowler Devon Malcolm (40 Tests from 1989 to 1997; 128 wickets, including 9-57 against South Africa) was born in Kingston, Jamaica.
1977:
England batsman Jack O'Connor (4 Tests in 1929-30) died aged 79.
1990:
New Zealand reach 387-9 at the end of the first day at Auckand against India after being 78-5 at lunch.
1993:
Indian left-hander Vinod Kambli playing in his only third Test match scores 224 against England at Bombay.
1998:
South African all-rounder and off-spinner Athol Rowan (15 Tests from 1947 to 1951; 290 runs and 54 wickets) died aged 77.
1998:
New Zealand claimed the extra half-hour on the fourth day to record a ten-wicket win over Zimbabwe at Wellington.
23rd February...
1842:
England's first Test captain and left-arm spinner James Lillywhite (2 Tests in 1877) was born.
1867:
England keeper Jack Board (6 Tests from 1899 to 1906) was born.
1904:
South African spinner Henry Promnitz (2 Tests in 1927) was born.
1906:
Australian leg-spinner Frank Ward (4 Tests from 1936 to 1938) was born.
1913:
South African all-rounder Jimmy Sinclair (25 Tests from 1896 to 1911; 1069 runs and 63 wickets) died aged 36.
1925:
South African leg-spinner Ian Smith (9 Tests from 1947 to 1957) was born.
1937:
England pace bowler Claude Buckenham (4 Tests in 1910, 21 wickets) died aged in Scotland aged 61.
1941:
West Indian batsman Robin Bynoe (4 Tests from 1959 to 1967) was born.
1947:
England off-spinner Geoff Cope (3 Tests from 1977 to 1978) was born.
1961:
West Indian all-rounder and leg-spinner Wilf Ferguson (8 Tests from 1948 to 1954; 34 wickets) died aged 43.
1965:
South African pace bowler Steve Elworthy (2 Tests from 1998 to 1999) was born in Bulawayo, Rhodesia.
1968:
England keeper Warren Hegg (2 Tests from 198 to 1999) was born.
1974:
South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs from 1996 was born.
1990:
New Zealand keeper Ian Smith scores 173 against India at Auckland - the highest by Test batsman while batting at number nine.
1998:
Indian batsman Raman Lamba (4 Tests in 1986-87) died at Dhaka (hit on head while fielding) aged 38.
1993:
India beat England three-nil in Test series at home.
24th February...
1922:
Indian batsman K Rai Singh (1 Test in 1948) was born.
1931:
England captain and left-handed batsman Brian Close (22 Tests from 1949 to 1976; 887 runs) was born.
1949:
England's left-arm pace bowler John Lever (21 Tests from 1976 to 1986; 73 wickets) was born.
1951:
England batsman Derek Randall (47 Tests from 1977 to 1984; 2470 runs) was born.
1959:
Australian left-arm pace bowler Mike Whitney (12 Tests from 1981 to 1992; 39 wickets) was born.
1999:
India score 351-3 on the first day against Sri Lanka at Colombo in the second match of the Asian Test Championship. S Ramesh and Rahul Dravid put on a record 232 for the second wicket.
2000:
English umpire David Shepherd became the second after Dickie Bird to officiate in 50 Test - in the Mumbai Test between India and South Africa.
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