1955
Birth of England's most famous cricketer. The highlights and lowlights of Ian Terence Botham's career are too lengthy to list here, but most prominent of all will always be his Ashes-winning trilogy in 1981. Having just resigned the captaincy, Botham turned a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead with three consecutive Boy's Own performances. His feverish spell of 5 for 1 when England looked set for defeat at Edgbaston was sandwiched by two extraordinary, and totally contrary, batting displays. At Headingley, facing odds of 500-1, Botham smeared a maniacal unbeaten 149 before Bob Willis set off on his poker-faced wrecking spree. If that was a slightly fortuitous slog, Beefy's 118 at Old Trafford two Tests later - when he twice swatted Dennis Lillee over fine leg for six with his eyes not on the ball, and reached his century off just 86 balls - was close to perfection. Indeed the emphasis on Botham's breathtaking power with the bat often obscures just how sound he was technically. Along with Viv Richards and Joel Garner, he was central to Somerset's golden age in the early 1980s. He also played soccer for Scunthorpe, continues to do untold work for leukaemia research, and is now a TV commentator with Sky.

1894
No Englishman with more than 500 Test runs averages more than the immaculate Herbert Sutcliffe, who was born today. Though he did not play for England until he was 29, Sutcliffe soon made up for lost time - after 17 Tests he averaged 80, and in all made 4555 runs at an average of 60.73. He was a magisterial batsman who peaked in 1924-25 when, despite England losing 4-1 to Australia, he became the first person to hit four hundreds in a Test series, including three in a row at Sydney and Melbourne. With Jack Hobbs he formed England's best-ever opening partnership. Sutcliffe was remorseless at county level for Yorkshire too, and made 2000 runs or more in a season 15 times. He died in Yorkshire in 1978.

1930
Birth of one of England's most popular cricketers. Ken Barrington started off at Surrey as a dashing strokemaker, but his pride in playing for his country was such that he imposed a strict, almost strokeless regime to make himself a success at the top level. It certainly worked, particularly overseas where Barrington made 14 of his 20 Test hundreds and averaged a mighty 69. No other Englishman comes close. Those 20 hundreds, many of which Barrington reached with a six, came on 19 different grounds. When in form, Barrington was as immovable as any batsman in cricket history. All his hundreds came in binges, and he scored back-to-back Test tons on a staggering seven occasions. Barrington was an extremely well-liked assistant manager, and coach of the side touring West Indies when he suffered a fatal heart attack in Barbados in 1981.

1932
The genial Fred Titmus, who was born today, was one of the finest offspinners to play for England. His strength was all in the flight, where he would tempt and tease batsmen into submission. He loved touring Australia, and took his best Test figures (7 for 79) at Sydney in 1962-63. But like most English finger-spinners, Titmus often struggled for penetration, as a Test strike rate of a wicket every 98 balls suggests. He could bat too, and opened the batting for England on more than one occasion in an emergency. Titmus played first-class cricket in five different decades, between 1949 and 1982 with Middlesex (and once in 1978 with Surrey). A number of knocks - including losing four toes when his foot was caught in the propeller of a motor boat - failed to dampen his lust for life. He was later awarded an MBE and became a Test selector.

1998
A timely electrical storm in Brisbane saved England just as Stuart MacGill and Mark Waugh seemed to be spinning them to defeat in the first Test. England had scrapped hard for much of the game, with Mark Butcher thumping an outstanding 116 (before the match he had made nine runs in five first-class innings on the tour), but it slipped away from them on the fourth day when Michael Slater hammered the first of three second-innings centuries he would make in the series. Set 348 to win, England were in big trouble at 179 for 6 when the weather intervened. Australia would not draw another home Test for three years.

1969
Birth of that pocket dynamo Romesh Kaluwitharana, who revolutionised one-day cricket when he and Sanath Jayasuriya took pinch-hitting to a new level in the mid-1990s, playing a shot a ball right from the off. Successful though the pair generally were, Kaluwitharana is also the subject of one of cricket's greatest myths. Legend has it that he and Jayasuriya set the 1996 World Cup alight with a series of blazing partnerships. Not so. Kalu made only 73 runs in the whole tournament, though at least he didn't hang around - those runs took only 52 balls, and in the semi-final he and Jayasuriya were both caught at third man (Kalu first ball) in the first over. He is inevitably a hit-and-miss player (his one-day average did not hit 20 until his 123rd match) but though he may not be reliable, Kaluwitharana is never less than entertaining.

1996
A real shock at Lahore, where New Zealand's herd of allrounders snatched a 44-run victory over Pakistan in the first Test. It looked unlikely when they were cleaned up for 155 on the first day, but a chalk-and-cheese partnership from Stephen Fleming (92 not out in almost five hours) and Chris Cairns (93 off 89 balls) second time round helped them set Pakistan a target of 276. They went to pieces, slipping to 60 for 6 before the debutant Mohammad Wasim struck a fine unbeaten century to bring them within range. At 211 for 7 things were getting tense, but Dipak Patel broke the habit of a lifetime by demolishing the tail. It was New Zealand's first Test win in 15 matches, and their first in Pakistan for 27 years.

1989
Sachin Tendulkar, at 16 years 214 days, became the youngest man to make a Test fifty when he stroked 59 in the second Test between India and Pakistan at Faisalabad. That aside it was fairly dull fare as the two sides played out another sleepy draw, their 13th in 14 matches. Vivek Razdan made his debut for India after only two first-class matches, neither of which were in the Ranji Trophy.

Other birthdays

1910 Lennox Brown (South Africa
1915 George Mudie (West Indies)
1918 Roly Jenkins (England)
1930 Chandrakant Patankar (India)
1938 Wynne Bradburn (New Zealand)
1943 Barry Milburn (New Zealand)
1948 Ashok Gandotra(India)
1952 Brijesh Patel (India)
1975 Neil McKenzie (South Africa)

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd