1966
A streak of White Lightning hit Bloemfontein. In his pomp Allan Donald, the only South African to take 300 Test wickets, was a marvellously athletic, irresistibly hostile fast bowler who has also given sterling service to Warwickshire. His values were rooted in an age where opponents sledged hard and then met for a beer at the close, and few who witnessed his ferocious duel with Mike Atherton at Trent Bridge in 1998 will forget it. He was a bowler who lived for the challenges offered by the very best (he dismissed Brian Lara six times in only eight Test innings in which he has bowled to him) although he never got the better of Australia -- he was the man who was run out at the end of that traumatic World Cup semi-final in 1999 -- and his career slowly petered out as injuries took their toll.

1996
The day when it all finally came together with the bat for Wasim Akram. In the first Test against Zimbabwe at Sheikhupura he pounded a monumental unbeaten 257, the highest score by a No. 8 in Tests. It included 12 sixes, beating the record previously held by Wally Hammond, who hit 10 in his 336 at Auckland in 1932-33. Wasim also added a Test-record 323 for the eighth wicket in a chalk-and-cheese partnership with Saqlain Mushtaq, who took 359 balls (only four fewer than Wasim) over his 79. Not entirely surprisingly, the match ended in a draw.

1963
Birth of a batsman who in his prime haunted the dreams of spin bowlers the world over. Navjot Singh Sidhu had an unusual block-block-block-thwack method that lent itself to slowly compiled, boundary-laden centuries. Against Sri Lanka at Lucknow in 1992-93 he made 124 off 223 balls, but the innings included eight sixes and nine fours -- take those away and he made 40 off 206 balls. He could stonewall when the situation demanded (his 201 in Trinidad in 1996-97 took over 11 hours) but he was also a master of the calculated assault. He set the tone for England's disastrous Indian tour of 1992-93 by smashing John Emburey for nine sixes, all over long-on, before the international matches had even begun, and he took Shane Warne to the cleaners in 1997-98. Sidhu is now a popular, if extremely eccentric, TV commentator.

1995
An historic day for Sri Lankan cricket. They beat West Indies in the Sharjah final to win their first one-day series involving more than two teams. The usual suspects set them up for victory: Aravinda de Silva caressed a 31-ball 50 and Muttiah Muralitharan took 3 for 31 to wrap up a comfortable 50-run win. It was a warning that the cricket world failed to heed -- four months later Sri Lanka went into the World Cup as underdogs and went all the way to victory in the final at Lahore.

1957
Birth of the England captain who couldn't get into the ground. When Chris Cowdrey was called up from nowhere to be England's third captain of the summer for the fourth Test against West Indies in 1988, a Headingley attendant did not recognise him and would not let him into the car-park. Cowdrey only played one match as captain. England were routed by ten wickets and when a bruised foot made him doubtful for the next match, the selectors cut their losses and replaced him with Graham Gooch. Cowdrey had been a controversial choice in the first place -- he was the godson of the chairman of selectors, Peter May -- because even though he was a fine captain, he was never a Test-class allrounder.

1947
Only four Tests for Younis Ahmed, who was born today, but he made many a statistician reach for the record books during his career. He made his first-class debut at 14 in 1961-62, and set a new record by appearing in Test cricket after a 17-year gap. He played twice against New Zealand in 1969-70, and returned at 39 to make two more appearances against India in 1986-87, but that was his lot at the top level. Throughout his career Younis was an outstanding county player for Surrey, Worcestershire and Glamorgan. He even had hopes of playing for England, but was denied by a change in the qualification laws.

Other birthdays
1855 Jim Slight (Australia)
1859 George Studd (England)
1917 Ken Cranston (England)
1954 Suru Nayak (India)
1968 Mark Douglas (New Zealand)
1977 David Sewell (New Zealand)
1978 Virender Sehwag (India)
1980 Fazl-e-Akbar (Pakistan)

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd