20th May...

1911:
England batsman EM (Edward) Grace (1 Test in 1880) died aged 69.

1911:
EB Alletson scores 189 in just 90 minutes for Nottinghamshire against Sussex at Hove - still considered the fastest ever innings recorded by a batsman in first-class history.

1926:
England pace bowler Dick Pougher (1 Test in 1892) died aged 61.

1940:
Indian all-rounder Amar Singh Ladha (7 Tests from 1932 to 1936; 292 runs and 28 wickets) died aged 29.

1943:
West Indian keeper Deryck Murray (62 Tests from 1963 to 1980; 1993 runs and 189 dismissals) was born.

1944:
England captain and batsman Keith Fletcher (59 Tests from 1968 to 1982; 3272 runs) was born.

1955:
By capturing five wickets for 56 runs against Australia at Bridgetown, West Indian Denis Atkinson, became the first all-rounder in Test history to score a double hundred and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test match. He had scored a 219 the previous day.

1956:
Australian batsman Andrew Hilditch (18 Tests from 1979 to 1985; 1073 runs) was born.

1963:
Kenyan opening batsman Dipak Chudasama (20 ODI matches from 1996 to 1999; 434 runs) was born.

1968:
Australian all-rounder Albert Hartkopf (1 Test in 1925; scored 80) died aged 78.

1982:
Pakistani batsman Imran Farhat since 2001, was born.

21th May...

1863:
Australian Test all-rounder Jack Lyons (14 Tests from 1887 to 1897; 731 runs and 6 wickets) was born.

1867:
Left-arm pace bowler JJ Ferris (8 Tests for Australia from 1887 to 1890; 48 wickets) and (1 Test for England in 1892) was born in Sydney.

1890:
England keeper Harry Smith (1 Test in 1928) was born.

1893:
England captain and batsman Arthur Carr (11 Tests from 1922 to 1929) was born.

1906:
Australian batsman Keith Rigg (8 Tests from 1931 to 1937) was born.

1929:
South African batsman Paul Winslow (5 Tests from 1950 to 1955) was born.

1929:
England batsman VPFA (Vernon) Royle (1 Test in 1879) died aged 75.

1955:
Pakistan's left-arm pace bowler Liaqat Ali Khan (5 Tests from 1975 to 1978) was born.

1957:
West Indian pace bowler Edwin St Hill (2 Tests in 1930) died aged 53 in England.

1987:
David Gower against Pakistan at the Oval became the first English player to appear in 100 one-day internationals.

1988:
West Indian Gordon Greenidge against England at Leeds completed 4000 runs in 97 ODIs.

1993:
England's Robin Smith scores an unbeaten 167 against Australia in the Birmingham ODI match, despite this knock his team still lost the match. He scored 60.29% of his team's total of 277 runs.

1997:
Pakistani left-hander Saeed Anwar scores a record 194 against India at Chennai - the highest ever score by an individual batsman in ODIs.

1999:
West Indies beat Bangladesh in 1999 World Cup match.

2000:
Pakistani Imran Nazir (131) against the West Indies at Bridgetown, became the youngest to score a Test hundred at 18 years 157 days.

22th May...

1864:
Australian left-handed all-rounder William Bruce (14 Tests from 1885 to 1895; 702 runs and 12 wickets) was born.

1879:
Australia's captain and all-rounder Warwick "Big Ship" Armstrong (50 Tests from 1901 to 1921; 2863 runs and 87 wickets) was born.

1927:
New Zealand's keeper-batsman Eric Petrie (14 Tests from 1955 to 1966) was born.

1940:
Indian off-spinner EAS Prasanna (49 Tests from 1962 to 1978; 189 wickets) was born.

1966:
English off-spinner Tom Goddard (8 Tests from 1930 to 1939) died aged 65.

1992:
England scores 203-5 against Pakistan at the Oval, to become the first team to score over 300-plus runs in a 55-over ODI match.

1999:
South Africa beat England by a huge margin of 122 runs in 1999 World Cup match, while Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by four wickets.

23th May...

1903:
England keeper Bill Farrimond (4 Tests from 1931 to 1935) was born.

1918:
England batsman Denis Compton (78 Tests from 1937 to 1957; 5807 runs, avg. 50.06) was born.

1923:
Indian pace bowler Nirode Chowdhury (2 Tests from 1949 to 1951) was born.

1924:
Indian pace bowler VN Swamy (1 Test in 1955) was born.

1954:
England all-rounder Hugh.Bromley-Davenport (4 Tests from 1896 to 1899) died aged 83.

1963:
West Indian pace bowler Tony Gray (5 Tests from 1986 to 1987) was born.

1965:
Indian left-handed batsman WV Raman (11 Tests from 1988 to 1997) was born.

1966:
England batsman Graeme Hick since 1991 was born in Zimbabwe.

1968:
England all-rounder Mark Alleyne (10 ODIs from 1999 to 2000) was born.

1974:
England batsman Darren Maddy (3 Tests from 1999 to 2000) was born.

1993:
Australia beat England by 19 runs at Lord's - the latter's seventh consecutive ODI defeat.

1996:
The Oval match between England and India was the first 50-over ODI match to be played in England since the first in 1972.

1999:
Eventual Champions Australia lost to Pakistan by 10 runs at Leeds in the World Cup match, while India trounce Kenya by 94 runs at Bristol. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar put on an unbeaten 237 runs for the third wicket.

24th May...

1895:
Australian all-rounder Hunter 'Stork' Hendry (11 Tests from 1921 to 1929) was born.

1926:
Australian keeper Len Maddocks (7 Tests from 1954 to 1956) was born.

1933:
Indian all-rounder HT 'Bal' Dani (1 Test in 1952) was born.

1938:
South African leg-spinner Glen Hall (1 Test in 1965) was born.

1942:
South African captain and batsman Dr Ali Bacher (12 Tests from 1965 to 1970; 679 runs) was born.

1969:
England pace bowler Martin McCague (3 Tests in 1993-94) was born in Northern Ireland.

1978:
The two-day limited-over match between England and Pakistan began at Old Trafford, Manchester.

1986:
India inflicted England's largest defeat by wickets margin in a 55-over home internationals when the former won by 9 wickets at The Oval, London. Sunil Gavaskar (65 not out) and Mohammad Azharuddin (83 not out) put on an unbeaten 163 runs for the second wicket after Kris Srikkanth was dismissed first ball.

1988:
New Zealand's left-arm spinner Tom Burtt (10 Tests from 1947 to 1953; 33 wickets) died aged 73.

1991:
A last wicket partnership of 23 runs from 51 balls between opener Mike Atherton and Richard Illingworth saw England win by one wicket against West Indies at Birmingham.

1995:
The Nottingham ODI match between England and the West Indies was the 1000th ODI match to be played since the first in 1971.

1999:
West Indies beat New Zealand, while Bangladesh did so like-wise against Scotland in the World Cup.

25th May...

1897:
Australian batsman Alan Kippax (22 Tests from 1925 to 1934; 1192 runs) was born.

1936:
Indian left-handed all-rounder Rusi Surti (26 Tests from 1960 to 1969; 1263 runs and 42 wickets) was born.

1949:
Sri Lankan off-spinner Lalith Kaluperuma (2 Tests in 1982) was born.

1958:
South African batsman Rolland Beaumont (5 Tests from 1912 to 1914) died aged 74.

1962:
Pakistani keeper Zulqarnain (3 Tests in 1986) was born.

1970:
England off-spinner Robert Croft since 1996, was born.

1974:
Australia leg-spinner Frank Ward (4 Tests from 1936 to 1938) died aged 68.

1978:
England beat Pakistan by 132 runs at Manchester in a Prudential Trophy match. The visitors were dismissed for just 85 runs with Bob Willis taking four wickets for just 15 off 11 overs.

1987:
England beat Pakistan by just one wicket at Birmingham. Pakistani Mudassar Nazar who was out first ball of the match took his 100th wicket to complete a career double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in his 106th match.

1990:
Left-handed Mark Greatbatch scores 111 against England at the Oval after scoring an unbeaten 102 two days earlier at Leeds.

1999:
England beat Zimbabwe by seven wickets in the World Cup.

26th May...

1868:
South African batsman Howard Francis (2 Tests in 1899) was born in England.

1884:
South African batsman Louis Stricker (13 Tests from 1910 to 1912) was born.

1920:
South African captain and batsman Jack Cheetham (24 Tests from 1949 to 1955; 883 runs) was born.

1921:
New Zealand keeper Frank Mooney (14 Tests from 1949 to 1954) was born.

1944:
South African all-rounder Cyril 'Froggy' Francois (5 Tests in 1922-23) died in a motor accident, aged 46.

1947:
Former New Zealand captain and batsman Glenn Turner (41 Tests from 1968 to 1982; 2991 runs) was born.

1948:
West Indian batsman Geoff Greenidge (5 Tests from 1972 to 1973) was born.

1966:
New Zealand off-spinner Grant Bradburn since 1990, was born.

1977:
Sri Lankan left-handed batsman Avishka Gunawardene since 1999, was born.

1978:
England beat Pakistan by 94 runs at The Oval, London. England's David Gower playing in his only second international match scored an unbeaten 114 of 122 balls.

1986:
England beat India by five wickets at Manchester, but India won the Texaco Trophy on a better run-rate.

1999:
South Africa beat their African neighbours Kenya, while India trash their Asian neighbours Sri Lanka by 157 runs at Taunton in the World Cup. India scored 373-6 in 50 overs thanks to Sourav Ganguly's 183 and Rahul Dravid's 145. They added a record 318 run for the second wicket.

Compiled by
MOHANDAS MENON

Last Week

Mail Cricket Editor