5th August....

1866:
Australian all-rounder and captain Harry Trott (24 Tests from 1888 to 1898; 921 runs and 29 wickets) was born.

1927:
Australian batsman Tom Groube (1 Test in 1880) died aged 69.

1934:
South African left-arm medium pacer Neville Quinn (12 Tests from 1929 to 1932; 35 wickets) died aged 26.

1944:
English batsman Maurice Turnbull (9 Tests from 1929 to 1936) died in France (World War II) aged 38.

1962:
New Zealand pace bowler Richard de Groen (5 Tests from 1993 to 1995) was born.

1969:
Indian pace bowler Venkatesh Prasad from 1996, was born.

1972:
Pakistani fast bowler Aaqib Javed (22 Tests from 1988 to 1998; 54 wickets) was born.

1985:
Australian fast bowler Craig MacDermott at 20 years 113 days became the youngest Australian to take eight wikcets in a Test innings (8-141) against England at Manchester.

1999:
England's most unlikely cricketer Mark Butcher, deputised for the injured Naseer Hussain to become England's 73rd Test captain - against New Zealand at Manchester.

2000:
Indian captain and all-rounder Lala Amarnath (24 Tests from 1933 to 1952; 878 runs and 45 wickets) died aged 88.

2000:
South African all-rounder Lawrence 'Fish' Markham (1 Test in 1949) died aged 75.

6th August....

1911:
South African pace bowler Norman 'Mobil' Gordon (5 Tests in 1938-39) was born.

1912:
The Test match at Nottingham between Australia and South Africa and not involving the home side saw a paying attendance of mere 2365 that too on a bank holiday.

1933:
Indian batsman AG Kripal Singh (14 Tests from 1955 to 1964); 422 runs) was born.

1943:
Australian all-rounder Tom Garrett (19 Tests from 1877 to 1888) died aged 85. He was the last surviving member of the first ever Test match in 1877.

1947:
Australian left armer Tony Dell (2 Tests from 1971 to 1974) was born.

1953:
Pakistan's left-arm spinner Iqbal Qasim (50 Tests from 1976 to 1989; 171 wickets) was born.

1969:
New Zealand pace bowler Simon Doull from 1992) was born.

1971:
Sri Lanka left arm spinner Piyal Wijetunge (1 Test in 1993) was born.

1979:
Ian Botham's wicket of Gavaskar at Lord's was his 100th in 2 years 9 days since debut. He was then the quickest to reach this milestone in least time since debut, until Kapil did so five months later.

1996:
England pace bowler Len Coldwell (7 Tests from 1962 to 1964) died aged 63.

1996:
West Indian captain and all-rounder Gerry Gomez (29 Tests from 1939 to 1954; 1243 runs and 58 wickets) died aged 76.

1997:
Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya (340) and Rohan Mahanama (225) put on an all-time Test record of 576 for the 2nd wicket against India at Colombo. Sri Lanka also posts 952-6 the highest ever Test score.

1998:
Hansie Cronje (51st Test) became the most capped player for South Africa - against England at Leeds. He bettered the previous tally of 50 by John Waite (from 1951 to 1965).

7th August....

1879:
South African fast bowler JJ Kotze (3 Tests from 1902 to 1907) was born.

1914:
Australian batsman BB 'Bransby' Cooper (1 Test in 1877) died aged 70.

1937:
English left-arm slow bowler Don Wilson (6 Tests from 1964 to 1971) was born.

1948:
Australian all-rounder and batsman Greg Chappell (87 Tests from 1970 to 1984; 7110 runs; 47 wickets and 122 catches) was born.

1959:
Zimbabwean left handed batsman Ali Omar Shah (3 Tests from 1992 to 1997) was born.

1971:
England pace bowler Dominic Cork from 1995 with over 100 Test wickets, was born.

1973:
Australian all-rounder Jack Gregory (24 Tests from 1920 to 1929; 1146 runs and 85 wickets) died aged 70.

1980:
Zimbabwe opening batsman Dion Ebrahim was born.

1987:
Pakistani middle-order batsman Javed Miandad scores 260 at The Oval. He incidentally was the last right-hander to score a double hundred against England.

1997:
Brothers Adam and Ben Hollioake made their Test debut in the same match for England - against Australia at Nottingham. At 19 years, 269 days Ben Hollioake becomes the youngest English Test debutant since Brian Close in 1949.

8th August....

1889:
Australian all-rounder and captain Jack Ryder (20 Tests from 1920 to 1929; 1394 runs & 17 wickets) was born.

1909:
England left-arm pace bowler Bill Voce (27 Tests from 1929 to 1947; 98 wickets) was born.

1940:
Indian middle-order batsman Dilip Sardesai (30 Tests from 1961 to 1973; 2001 runs) was born.

1951:
Australian all-rounder Phil Carlson (2 Tests in 1979) was born.

1964:
English left-arm pace bowler Paul Taylor (2 Tests from 1992 to 1994) was born.

1965:
English pace bowler Angus Fraser (46 Tests from 1989 to 1999; 177 wickets) was born.

1968:
Indian pace bowler Abey Kuruvila (10 Tests in 1997) was born.

1977:
Pakistani batsman Mohammad Wasim from 1996 was born.

1987:
Pakistan dismissed for 708 by England at The Oval - the second highest score in Test cricket where all the ten wickets fell in an innings.

1993:
Kapil Dev passed the record number of balls bowled in Test cricket, at Colombo against Sri Lanka. West Indian off-spinner Lance Gibbs had bowled 27115 balls.

9th August....

1897:
New Zealand all-rounder Ted Badcock (7 Tests from 1929 to 1933) was born in India.

1902:
English left-arm pace bowler Nobby Clark (8 Tests from 1929 to 1934) was born.

1909:
Australian captain Monty Noble emulated England's FS Jackson's feat of 1905 by winning all five tosses in a Test series against England at the Oval.

1911:
Indian wicket-keeper Khurshed Meherhomji (1 Test in 1936) was born.

1926:
West Indian all-rounder Denis Atkinson (22 Tests from 1948 to 1958; 922 runs and 47 wickets) was born.

1946:
South African pace and leg-break all-rounder Bert Vogler (15 Tests from 1905 to 1911; 340 runs and 64 wickets) died aged 69.

1965:
South Africa inflicted England its first defeat (by 94 runs) at Nottingham in 15 matches under Mike Smith's captaincy. It was brought about mainly by the performances of the Pollock brothers - Graeme scoring 184 runs (125 and 59) and Peter taking 10 wickets for 87 in 58 overs.

1976:
West Indian Clive Lloyd scores an unbeaten 201 in just 120 minutes against Glamorgan at Swansea in 1976. It was then the fastest double-hundred in first-class cricket.

1977:
Yorkshire's Chris Old scores a hundred in 37 minutes (in contrived circumstances) against Warwickshire at Birmingham.

1980:
Australian off-spinner Phil Lee (2 Tests from 1931 to 1933) died aged 75.

1983:
Zimbabwe's latest teenage batting sensation Hamilton Masakadza was born.

1984:
England's Ian Botham became the first Test all-rounder to complete a triple of 3000 runs and 300 wickets, in the Oval Test match against the West Indies.

1993:
Sri Lankan opener Roshan Mahanama (151) against India at Colombo scored Test cricket's 2000th century.

1997:
Orissa's first Test cricketer Debasis Mohanty makes his debut - against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo.

10th August....

1895:
Australian keeper Hammy Love (1 Test in 1933) was born.

1896:
Five English players threatened strike action before the start of the Ashes Test match at the Oval because of a dispute over match fees. Although Bobby Abel, Tom Hayward and Tom Richardson relented, Billy Gunn and George Lohmann refused to play.

1902:
England batsman George Vernon (1 Test 1882-83) died at Gold Coast, West Africa, aged 46. He took the tour to India in 1889-90.

1923:
England pace bowler Fred Ridgway (5 Tests in 1951-52) was born.

1943:
Pakistani batsman Shafqat Rana (5 Tests from 1964 to 1970) was born at Simla, India.

1947:
England fast bowler Alan Ward (5 Tests from 1969 to 1976) was born.

1958:
England's keeper-batsman Jack Richards (8 Tests from 1986-87 to 1988) was born.

1965:
Australian batsman Ray Robinson (1 Test in 1936) died aged 51.

1967:
The Nottingham Fire Brigade pumped 100,000 gallons of water off the ground after a violent thunderstorm soon after 5 pm on the first day of the Test match against Pakistan. The playing area was transformed into a lake.

1970:
Australian left-arm pace bowler Brendon Julian (7 Tests from 1993 to 1996) was born at Hamilton, New Zealand.

1972:
The Oval Test was the first to feature an Australian team without a New South Wales representative. Australia was then playing its 329th match.

1976:
Australia keeper-batsman Bert Oldfield (54 Tests from 1920 to 1937; 1427 runs and 130 dismissals, including a record 52 stumpings) died aged 81.

1978:
England keeper Chris Read (3 Tests in 1999) was born.

1989:
Australia reach 301 runs without any loss on the first day at Nottingham, with hundreds from Geoff Marsh and Mark Taylor.

1998:
England beat South Africa by 23 runs at Leeds to win their first five-match series (2-1) since defeating Australia in 1986-87.

2000:
England batsmaan Gilbert Parkhouse (7 Tests from 1950 to 1959) died aged 74.

2000:
Sri Lankan Arjuna Ranatunga made his final Test appearance at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground at Colombo against South Africa. He made an unbeaten 28, which enabled his team to draw the match. Spectators were admitted free after tea on the last day to watch Ranatunga, the last playing member of the island's inaugural Test team in February 1982.

11th August....

1855:
Australian left arm medium pacer John Hodges (2 Tests in 1877) was born in London.

1870:
English pace bowler Tom Richardson (14 Tests from 1893 to 1998; 88 wickets) was born.

1884:
Australian pair of Billy Murdoch and 'Tup' Scott records the first double-century stand in Tests against England at The Oval. By close they had added 205 runs.

1890:
Twenty-two wickets fell on the first day for 197 runs in the Ashes series at The Oval.

1892:
West Indian batsman Archie Wiles (1 Test in 1933) was born.

1907:
Aussie pace bowler Ted a'Beckett (4 Tests from 1928 to 1932) was born.

1909:
Australian Warren Bardsley (136 and 130) became the first to get hundreds in ach innings of a Test match - against England at The Oval.

1910:
New Zealand all-rounder-batsman Denis Moloney (3 Tests in 1937) was born.

1954:
Indian all-rounder MV Narasimha Rao (4 Tests from 1978 to 1980) was born.

1954:
Indian middle-order batsman Yashpal Sharma (37 Tests from 1979 to 1984; 1606 runs) was born.

1965:
Australian opening batsman and captain Bill Woodfull (35 Tests from 1926 to 1934; 2300 runs) died aged 67.

1974:
Australian leg-break bowler Jack 'Snarler' Hill (3 Tests from 1953 to 1955) died aged 51.

1977:
England's Geoff Boycott (110*) became the first batsman to score his 100th first-class hundred in a Test match - against Australia at Leeds. He went on the reach 191 the next day.

1999:
Indian opening batsman Ramnath Parkar (2 Tests in 1972-73) died aged 52.

Compiled by:
Mohandas Menon

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Mail Cricket Editor