1987
Hyderabad in India witnessed one of the greatest one-day innings of all time. Zimbabwe's captain Dave Houghton hammered a brilliant 142 off 137 balls, with 13 fours and six sixes, as his side fell an agonising four runs short of their target of 243 in a World Cup match against New Zealand. He lost ten pounds in the oppressive heat and by the end, with cramp taking full toll, he could hardly walk. It was the first one-day hundred by a Zimbabwean, and remains their joint-highest score in an ODI.

1949
Birth of the chunky Kiwi Lance Cairns (father of Chris), a wrong-footed line-and-length merchant with the ball but a real biffer with the bat. His bowling was certainly his stronger suit, and his finest hour came at Headingley in 1983, when he took 10 for 144 to lead New Zealand to their first Test victory in England at the 29th attempt. But his most memorable performances came with the shoulderless bat he branded so burtally: in 1979-80, with Otago 48 for 8, he flogged his only first-class century in 45 balls; and in 1982-83 he smashed the then-fastest one-day fifty off 21 balls at Melbourne.

1919
The birth of one of the unsung heroes of the great West Indies team that shocked England in 1950. Gerry Gomez was an understated allrounder whose high point as a player came in Australia in 1951-52, when he averaged 36 with the bat and 14 with the ball - including 7 for 55 at Sydney - despite his side losing the series 4-1, and he was also manager of the team that toured Australia in 1960-61. He stood in at short notice for the third Test between West Indies and Australia at Georgetown in 1964-65, even though he had never before officiated in a first-class match. He died of a heart attack in his native Trinidad in 1996.

1998
At Harare, Zimbabwe claimed only their second Test victory. In the one-off Test against India, the Zims had the best of a low-scoring game to win by 61 runs. Neil Johnson took the key wicket of Sachin Tendulkar, caught behind for 7, as India crashed wretchedly to 133 for 9 in pursuit of 235. The last pair of Javagal Srinath and Harbhajan Singh swung the bat merrily, but they were never in danger of salvaging anything more than pride, and India's overseas drought continued: since beating England in 1986 they had played 42 Tests away from home, and won only one of them.

1927
Only five appearances at the top table for the exotically-monickered West Indian Clairmonte Depeiaza, who was born today, but he was part of the highest seventh-wicket partnership in Test history, at Bridgetown in 1954-55. He came in at 147 for 6, after Australia had amassed 668, and added 347 with Denis Atkinson. The pair batted throughout the fourth day, and Depeiaza's 122 was his only first-class hundred as well as his only Test score over 16. Their partnership was a first-class record too, until Pankaj Dharmani and Bhupinder Singh added 460 for Punjab v Delhi in 1994-95.

1922
In Wellington, Harry Cave was born. He was the best of an extended family of cricketers known almost inevitably as "The Cavemen", and he captained New Zealand in nine of his 19 Tests. His performances were modest, as a record of 34 wickets at 43 suggests, but he did play a crucial role in his country's first Test win, over West Indies at Auckland in 1955-56, with match figures of 8 for 43 from 40 overs.

1895
Birth of the elegant Australian batsman Johnny Taylor, who is best remembered for his solitary Test century, against England at Sydney in 1924-25. He made 108 and added 127 for the last wicket with Arthur Mailey -- still an Australian record in Ashes Tests -- despite a boil on the back of his knee which was being aggravated by the friction of his pad-strap. He died in Sydney in 1971.

Other birthdays
1884 Neville Knox (England)
1884 Charles Pearse (South Africa)
1933 Sadashiv Patil (India)
1936 Artie Dick (New Zealand)

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