1919
Birth of Australia's finest allrounder. Any self-respecting cobber would have Keith Miller as the fulcrum of his alltime Australian XI. Miller was a brilliant, glitzy batsman who spent most of his career at No.5 but was good enough to bat as high as No.3, and a genuinely fast opening bowler who was often at his most dangerous off a short run. He took 7 for 60 in only his second Test, as Australia massacred England by an innings and 332 runs at Brisbane in 1946-47. Four years later he slammed an unbeaten 145 at Sydney in another innings victory over the old enemy. Perhaps Miller's finest hour came in the Caribbean in 1954-55, when he scored three hundreds in six innings, and also chipped in with 20 wickets as Australia won 3-0. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1954, and played the last of his 55 Tests against Pakistan at Karachi in 1956-57.

1975
The great Michael Holding made his debut in the first Test between Australia and West Indies at Brisbane. He won't remember it too fondly though: he took 0 for 127 in the match as West Indies were thumped by eight wickets in a series they would eventually lose 5-1. Australia faced a potentially tricky target of 219, but this was before Headingley '81 gave them the fourth-innings wobbles, and the Chappell brothers, Ian and Greg, hammered an unbroken 159 for the third wicket to seal victory, Greg adding an unbeaten 109 to his first innings 123. The match also saw Dennis Lillee return the bizarre first-innings figures of 11-0-84-3. Even allowing for the fact that these were eight-ball overs, West Indies approach on the first morning (Roy Fredericks creamed 46 off 30 balls), bordered on the feckless - they were bowled out for 214 in 37.5 overs.

1969
When he flies down the wicket to slap world-class bowlers over the infield in one-day internationals, it's hard to believe that Nick Knight has not cracked it at Test level. With an array of shots, a cool head and the ability to improvise in the first 15 overs, Knight has been England's best one-day batsman for years – though he was, ludicrously, a non-playing member of the 1999 World Cup squad after being made to pay for a dip in form – but he has never really threatened to establish himself in the Test team. His best spell came in 1996-97: he lashed a maiden Test ton against Pakistan at Headingley, then almost guided England to victory in the `flippin' murder' match at Bulawayo. But Knight's form deserted him in New Zealand later that winter, and the England selectors, loyal as ever, replaced him with Mark Butcher for the 1997 Ashes campaign. Knight has only played six Tests since.

1999
England's brave new world under Duncan Fletcher began with an innings defeat in the first Test against South Africa at Johannesburg. But that almost represented a moral victory – after 17 balls of the match England were a staggering 2 for 4, the worst start to an innings in their history, with four Test captains (Mike Atherton, Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart) all back in the pavilion as Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock (who shared 19 of the 20 wickets to fall) wreaked havoc on a damp surface (it was no surprise that Nasser Hussain lost a crucial toss).

Other birthdays 1841 Edward Grace (England)
1866 Dick Lilley (England)
1876 Bert Vogler (South Africa)

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