1940
Birth of the only man to make a triple-century in a Test in Australia. Bob Cowper took 307 off England at Melbourne in 1965-66, the 13th-highest Test score of all time. He had made his name the previous winter with some sterling work in the Caribbean, where he made two of his five Test hundreds and stood up to all Charlie Griffith and Wes Hall could throw at him. Chuck in his skiddy offspinners, flexibility (he batted everywhere from No. 2 to 6 in Tests) and brilliant fielding, and Cowper was a very fine allrounder. But he retired at 30 and moved to Monte Carlo; later he became one of the first ICC match referees. He officiated the first two Tests between England and Pakistan in 1992 but got out at the right time, just as things began to get feisty.

1963
That nerveless debutant Tony Dodemaide was born in Victoria. His was a fairly unspectacular career, but Dodemaide certainly had his moments. He became the first person to take a five-for on ODI debut, against Sri Lanka at Perth in 1987-88. And he made 50 (batting at No. 9) and took 6 for 58 on his Test debut, against New Zealand at Melbourne the same winter. But those were the only instances of Dodemaide taking five wickets or reaching 50 in his 10 Tests and 24 ODIs. Uniquely, he played his first four Tests against four different countries: New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. He also had three seasons at Sussex, and is now MCC's Head of Cricket at Lord's.

1935
Birth of the under-rated wicketkeeper Jimmy Binks, who set a new record when he played 412 consecutive County Championship matches for Yorkshire between 1955 and 1969. But even in those days batting was a fundamental consideration for a keeper (Binks averaged only 14.73 and never made a hundred), and he played only two Tests, both in India in 1963-64. Ironically, he opened in three of his four Test innings there, and made 55 on debut at Bombay. Binks also made 107 dismissals in 1960. He was one of three men to achieve the feat that season, along with Roy Booth and John Murray, and it has not been done since. His 96 catches in that season remain a record, too.

1963
Few English batsmen of recent times were as unlucky as Hugh Morris, who was born today. The stocky Morris played his three Tests in 1991, and certainly didn't disgrace himself, making a brave 44 in that famous victory over West Indies at The Oval. He continued to be prolific at county level - in 1990, the summer when England surely picked the wrong Morris, he made 2276 runs, a Glamorgan record - but his unfussy batting was never quite eye-catching enough for the style-over-substance selectorial policy of the time. He's now the ECB's performance director.

1982
Australia were Qadir-ed at Faisalabad. Needing to bat out the final day with only six wickets intact, Australia were dismissed for 330 to give Pakistan an innings victory and an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. The inimitable Abdul Qadir took 7 for 142, giving him 11 wickets in the match and rendering fruitless the brave resistance of Greg Ritchie, who made 104 not out, his first Test century.

1932
If you average just shy of 50 in your first seven Tests you might expect a decent run in the side. But not if you're Indian opener Madhav Apte, who was born today. Apte came in against Pakistan and then West Indies in 1952-53, and made an unbeaten 163 at Port-of-Spain. He averaged 49.27 in all, but to widespread astonishment was dropped. Despite consistent heavy scoring for Bombay, he was not selected again.

Other birthdays
1934 David R. Smith (Gloucestershire and England)
1961 Derek Stirling (New Zealand)
1964 Saradindu Mukherjee (India)
1971 Ian Stanger (Scotland)

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