25th 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.

26th February.…
1851:
England keeper Mordecai Sherwin (3 Tests from 1887 to 1888) was born.

1867:
England batsman Charles Coventry (2 Tests in 1889) was born.

1887:
England paceman George Lohmann becomes the first bowler to take eight-wickets in a Test innings when he claimed 8-35 against Australia at Sydney.

1922:
Australian left-arm pace bowler Bill Johnston (40 Tests from 1947 to 1955; 160 wickets) was born.

1925:
West Indian batsman Everton Weekes (48 Tests from 1948 to 1958; 4455 runs, avg. 58.62) was born.

1930:
West Indies beat England by 289 runs at Georgetown to record its first ever Test win.

1934:
Australia fast bowler Ron Gaunt (3 Tests from 1958 to 1964) was born.

1941:
New Zealand batsman Keith Thomson (2 Tests in 1968) was born.

1971:
South African keeper Edward van der Merwe (2 Tests from 1929 to 1936) died aged 66.

1989:
Playing in his 75th Test match Pakistan's Imran Khan reaches his 3000th run at Auckland - to became the third Test all-rounder to do the double of 3000 runs and 300 wickets after Ian Botham and Kapil Dev.

1990:
England keeper-batsman Les Ames (47 Tests from 1929 to 1939; 2424 runs and 97 dismissals) died aged 84.

1993:
Australian Allan Border becomes Test cricket's highest run-getter when he surpassed Gavaskar's record 10122 runs during his innings of 88 against New Zealand at Christchurch.

27th February...

1906:
New Zealand pace bowler Alex Matheson (2 Tests from 1930 to 1931) was born.

1914:
The Port Elizabeth Test between South Africa and England provided the first instance of two pairs of brothers appearing the same Test match - South Africans HW and D Taylor and PAM & RHM Hands.

1920:
England batsman Reg Simpson (27 Tests from 1948 to 1955; 1401 runs) was born.

1921:
England pace bowler Schofield Haigh (11 Tests from 1899 to 1912) died aged 49.

1924:
West Indian off-spinner Norman Marshall (1 Test in 1955) was born.

1939:
West Indian fast bowler Lester King (2 Tests from 1962 to 1968) was born.

1944:
South African left-hander Graeme Pollock (23 Tests from 1963 to 1970; 2256 runs, avg. 60.97) was born.

1947:
Australian batsman Ashley Woodcock (1 Test in 1974) was born.

1947:
England batsman Francis MacKinnon (1 Test in 1879) died aged 98 - the oldest ever Test cricketer to die.

1984:
West Indian all-rounder Leslie Walcott (1 Test in 1930) died aged 90.

1998:
West Indian Courtney Walsh became the first specialist fast bowler to play in 100 Test matches - against England at Georgetown.

1999:
Dion Nash, deputising the injured Stephen Fleming became New Zealand's 25th Test captain - against South Africa at Auckland.

1999:
Mahela Jayawardene (242) against India at Colombo - at 21 years 277 days - became the youngest Sri Lankan to score a Test double hundred.

28th February...

1912:
England all-rounder Bill Storer (6 Tests 1997 to 1999) died aged 45.

1916:
Australian batsman Ross Gregory (2 Tests in 1937) was born.

1935:
South African paceman Clive Halse (3 Tests in 1964) was born.

1946:
New Zealand batsman Graham Vivian (5 Tests from 1965 to 1972) was born.

1951:
Indian all-rounder Karsan Ghavri (39 Tests from 1974 to 1981; 913 runs and 109 wickets) was born.

1957:
New Zealand captain and keeper-batsman Ian Smith (63 Tests from 1980 to 1992; 1815 runs and 176 dismissals) was born.

1975:
Pakistani all-rounder Azhar Mahmood since 1997 was born.

1980:
England leg-break bowler Ian Peebles (13 Tests from 1927 to 1931; 45 wickets) died aged 72.

1990:
England batman Colin Milburn (9 Tests from 1966 to 1969; 654 runs) died aged 48.

1990:
South African all-rounder "Tuppy" Owen-Smith (5 Tests in 1929) died aged 81.

1995:
Australian batsman Keith Rigg (8 Tests from 1931 to 1937) died aged 88.

1st March...

1888:
England all-rounder Ewart Astill (9 Tests from 1927 to 1930) was born.

1898:
England pace bowler Tom Richardson playing in his last Test match takes 8-94 against Australia at Sydney.

1902:
Australian Clem Hill during his innings of 87 against England at Melbourne becomes the first batsman in Test history to score 500 runs in a series without making a century.

1921:
Australia beat England by nine wickets at Sydney to become the first team to win all five matches of a Test series.

1930:
Indian batsman CD Gopinath (8 Tests from 1951 to 1960) was born.

1950:
Pakistan keeper Shahid Israr (1 Test in 1976) was born.

1953:
Sri Lanka's first Test captain and all-rounder Bandula Warnapura (4 Tests in 1982) was born.

1958:
Australian left-handed batsman and wicket-keeper Wayne Phillips (27 Tests from 1983 to 1986; 1485 runs and 52 dismissals - all catches) was born.

1958:
West Indian Gary Sobers scores an unbeaten 365 at Kingston against Pakistan - then the highest-ever individual Test score.

1968:
Indian pace bowler Salil Ankola (1 Test in 1989) was born.

1968:
Sri Lankan leg-spinner Sanjeeva Weerasinghe (1 Test in 1985) was born.

1969:
Pakistani batsman Azam Khan (1 Test in 1996) was born.

1971:
Pakistani batsman Zahoor Elahi (1 Test in 1996) was born.

1974:
The Chappell brothers Ian and Greg put on 264 runs for the third wicket against New Zealand at Wellington. They provided the first instance of brothers scoring hundreds in same Test innings.

1980:
Pakistani batsman and all-rounder Shahid Afridi since 1998 was born.

2000:
Sri Lanka Arjuna Rantunga (29 not out) batting with multiple fractures to his left thumb, courageously guided his team to a narrow two-wicket victory over Pakistan at Rawalpindi.

2nd March...

1855:
England left-arm spinner Ted Peate (8 Tests from 1881 to 1886; 31 wickets) was born.

1896:
Umpire AM Miller officiated the Port Elizabeth Test match between South Africa and England after making his debut as a player in the previous Test match.

1898:
Australian opener Joe Darling who scored 160 (in 175 minutes and 30 fours) against England at Sydney reached his hundred in only 91 minutes - still the fastest by an Australian in the Ashes series.

1912:
South African pace bowler ABC "Chud" Langton (15 Tests from 1935 to 1939; 40 wickets) was born.

1923:
New Zealand right hand batsman Don Taylor (3 Tests from 1947 to 1956) was born.

1957:
New Zealand pace bowler Stuart Gillespie (1 Test in 1986) was born.

1997:
The fifth wicket pair of Steve Waugh and Greg Blewett batted throughout the third day against South Africa at Johannesburg.

1998:
Pakistan beat South Africa by 29 runs to become the first visiting side to since 1964-65 to win a Test match at Kingsmead, Durban.

1999:
New Zealand tail-ender Geoff Allott set a dubious Test record by batting for 101 minutes without scoring a run against South Africa at Auckland.

3rd March...

1888:
England captain and batsman FT Mann (5 Tests in 1922-23) was born.

1896:
England pace bowler George Lohmann (9-28) became the first bowler in Test history to take nine wickets in an innings - against South Africa at Port Elizabeth.

1904:
Bernard Bosenquet, the inventor of the googly, claims 6-51, including a spell of 5 for 12, against Australia at Sydney, which enabled England to regain the Ashes

1914:
The Port Elizabeth Test match between South Africa and England proved to be the last anywhere for 6 years 289 days - the longest interval in Test cricket - due to the World War I.

1935:
England fast bowler Neville Knox (2 Tests in 1907) died aged 50. 1936: Australian captain Vic Richardson against South Africa at Durban became the first fieldsman to take five catches in a Test innings.

1936:
Australian leg-spinner Clarrie Grimmett playing in his last Test match claims six for 74 against South Africa at Durban. He took his tally of wickets for the match to 13 and his final career tally to a then record of 216 Test wickets.

1937:
Australia beat England by an innings and 200 runs at Melbourne to become the first team in Test history to win series 3-2 after losing the first two Test matches.

1939:
Indian batsman ML Jaisimha (39 Tests from 1959 to 1971; 2056 runs) was born.

1943:
England all-rounder George Thompson (6 Tests from 1909 to 1910) died aged 65.

1945:
Pakistani pace bowler Farooq Hamid (1 Test in 1964) was born.

1956:
Indian swing bowler Balwinder Singh Sandhu (8 Tests in 1983) was born.

1956:
New Zealand left-handed batsman John F Reid (19 Tests from 1979 to 1986) was born.

1964:
Pakistani batsman Atif Rauf (1 Test in 1994) was born.

1970:
Pakistani batsman Inzamam-ul Haq since 1992 with over 4000 Test runs was born.

1994:
South African pace bowler Bob Crisp (9 Tests from 1935 to 1936) died in England aged 82.

2000:
South African Nicky Boje scores 85 as a 'night-watchman' against India at Bangalore.

Compiled by MOHANDAS MENON

Last Week

Mail Cricket Editor