On This Day

[The Professor]

On this day in 1964 a Pakistan collapse didn't deter from their strong start.

Graham McKenzie who had underperformed yesterday came back to gut the Pakistan middle order on Day Two. The day started with Pakistan on 284/3 and soon enough they were 302/7.

Intikhab Alam and Asif Iqbal stopped the rot with a partnership of 49 in what was a gargantuan lower order fightback. The last three partnerships accrued 112 runs to take Pakistan to 414 - their highest score against Australia. McKenzie was the best of the Australian bowlers with 6-69.

The Australian innings did not get off to the best start. Bill Lawry was sent back in the second over by Majid Khan. Third batsmen in Ian Redpath put on 19 before being caught lbw Intikhab Alam. This took Australia to 78-2.

Opener Bob Simpson and Peter Burge saw Australia through the rest of the day and put on some healthy runs in the process. Burge put on 34 whilst Simpson had played more economically for 72.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1964 there was a rest day between Pakistan and Australia so I will reflect on Australia's frustrating year of irresolution.

In 1964 Australia played five Tests against England, one against Pakistan and began their five Test tour of the West Indies. In these 11 Tests Australia would only win 2 - an 18% win percentage. This sounds bad but they would also only lose 2 - an 18% loss percentage. Seven of the games that Australia played were draws. Australia drew 64% of the games they played in 1964 and early 1965.

The galling thing for the Aussies is that they weren't playing bad cricket at all. In fact if you looked at just the first innings of each of these drawn matches they would have: won the Ashes 3-2 and would have won the West Indies tour by the same margin.

If we were to look at the games solely on first innings the results would have been:
1st Test: England won by 48 runs
2nd Test: England won by 4 wickets
3rd Test: Australia won by 7 wickets (Actual result)
4th Test: Australia win by 45 runs
5th Test: Australia win by 7 wickets

Only Test: Pakistan win by 62 runs

1st Test: West Indies won by 179 runs (Actual result)
2nd Test: Australia won by five wickets
3rd Test: West Indies won by 212 runs (Actual Result)
4th Test: Australia won by 77 runs
5th Test: Australia won by 10 wickets.

Whilst these are obviously hypothetical scores it shows the dominance that Australia had in these games. It takes their moral victory percentage up to 54%.

I think it also exposes the lack of use of declaration rules. Only one of these eleven games saw a captain declare and it would seem, for Australia at least, that this marred the game.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1964 Bob Simpson's weighty knock makes up the majority of Australia's innings.

Simpson, 72 not out overnight, batted through to tea on Day Three of the only Test against Pakistan. His innings was just under seven hours and comprised six different partners. The most successful was the one that started the day between him and Peter Burge. By the time Burge was dismissed by Pervez Sajjad for 54, the pair had put on 116 and Simpson had got his century.

The next four batsmen Brian Booth (15), Bob Cowper (16), Tom Veivers (25) and Johnny Martin (26) all got themselves settled in but couldn't push on to a decent score. When Simpson was dismissed on 153 by Saeed Ahmed the game was up and the tail crumbled. Ahmed was instrumental in this collapse, claiming two further wickets. Australia were all out for 352 - 62 runs behind Pakistan.

The Pakistan second innings got off to a poor start when their hero of the first innings, Khalid Ibadulla, was out for just 3 runs - caught by Ian Redpath off the bowling of Graham McKenzie. Abdul Kadir and Asif Iqbal got Pakistan through to stumps with Pakistan 28/1 and 90 runs ahead.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1964 Pakistan batted slowly with the emphasis on holding on to wickets rather than accruing runs.

Early signs were good for Pakistan when night watchman Asif Iqbal managed to hang around for a decent chunk of the morning session alongside Abdul Kadir. He got out to a very creditable 36 when caught and bowled by Bob Simpson. Kadir did not last too long afterwards - removed by Tom Veivers on 26. Pakistan were 81-3.

Saeed Ahmed and Javed Burki put on some decent runs together by the highlight of Day Four came when Ahmed was dismissed by Johnny Martin and Burki was joined by Hanif Mohammad. The pair put on 84 runs and swelled Pakistan's total from 118-4 to 202-5.

They would have hoped to bat out the day but a final session collapse saw them and Shafqat Rana gone in the dying overs of the game. Even Rana managed to put up a good total though scoring 24.

It was very much a shared day for Australia with six different bowlers getting the six wickets.

Stumps were called with Pakistan on 248-7 - 310 runs ahead.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1964 an entertaining Test between Pakistan and Australia ended in a draw.

Pakistan surprised everyone when they batted on into the final morning. They waited until the loss of their first batsman Nasim-ul-Ghani who fell on 22 to Tom Veivers. Pakistan had put on a further 31 runs, swelling their lead to 341. The testament of Pakistan's batting was that, with the exception of Khalid Ibadulla, the lowest scoring batsman was Nasim-ul-Ghani. All the team contributed.

Australia had just under five hours to get 342. Bob Simpson and Bill Lawry accepted the challenge and started scoring briskly. This took its toll when Lawry was gone for a quickfire 22. This is when a severe change in the style of play came about. Ian Redpath came out and played some ludicrously negative cricket at one end whilst Simpson was playing very attacking cricket at his end. The next man out was Simpson who had managed to bag his second century of the match. The timings of these two innings show the differing approaches of the two batsmen. Simpson took 200 minutes to get to 115 - Redpath took 240 minutes to get to 40 runs. He spent 37 minutes on 0.

If anyone were to be blamed for this draw it is Ian Redpath.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1994 India faced the West Indies in the fourth match of the Wills World Series.

The tournament was a triangular competition that also included New Zealand. India had been undefeated thus far and had every right to feel confident against the West Indies.

India won the toss and elected to field. West Indies set about making them rue this with an opening partnership of 115 between Stuart Williams and Phil Simmons. A flurry of wickets saw both openers and Carl Hooper dismissed for the gain of just 15 runs. The occasional bowling of Sachin Tendulkar claimed both openers. Keith Arthurton got the show back on the road with 72 from 62 balls to help bolster West Indies total to 257.

Tendulkar followed up his good spell with the ball with a decent start with the bat. Accompanied by Manoj Prabhkar, the opening stand got 56 runs before Tendulkar was dismissed by Anderson Cummins.

With the exception of the important loss of a dangerous looking Mohammad Azharuddin, the rest of the Indian batsmen were dismissed to run outs as some sloppy running combined with some inch perfect fielding.

The game was soured by controversy towards the end of Indian's innings when Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia came together for the sixth wicket. Needing 63 from nine overs the pair played very negatively amid the belief that they would rather face West Indies in the final rather than New Zealand. Prabhkar managed to get his century but the stats of Mongia show the blocking cricket that was played - scoring 4 runs in 25 balls. In the nine overs the pair scored just sixteen runs.

This had far reaching consequences for the two players. Prabhkar is one of the few players to be dropped after reaching a century. He was joined by Mongia.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1990 the test between Pakistan and New Zealand was closed out in a similar fashion to how the first four days had been played; domination by Waqar Younis.

On the first morning Pakistan were bowled out for 102 with Chris Pringle getting 7-52. New Zealand then posted a first innings lead of 115 thanks to a 42 ball 62 from Ian Smith.

The second innings is where everything changed for Pakistan. Shoaib Mohammad scored his second century of the series and Pakistan had a lead of 242. The previous night New Zealand had lost four batsmen and started the day on 31/4.

Just as he got the first wicket of the innings, Younis got the first wicket of the day in the form of Martin Crowe. Ken Rutherford soon followed and New Zealand were 64-6.

Dipak Patel and Grant Bradburn put together a strong partnership of 84 which would have given New Zealand some hope of holding out for a draw however when Patel was caught behind by Saleem Yousuf off the bowling of Saleem Jaffar the wheels came off.

More accurately the wheels were taken off by Younis. He claimed the last three wickets, initially breaking the stubborn partnership of Bradburn and Smith, catching the latter off his own bowling. He then polished off the tail taking his figures for the innings to 5-54 to add to his 7-76 in the first innings.

Younis had helped Pakistan to a series whitewash over New Zealand. Not bad for a player who had only played five Tests.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1926 England and Yorkshire's Gerald Smithson was born.

Joining up with Yorkshire in 1946, Smithson made his name with a score of 98 against Lancashire when he was just 20 years old.

He was called up to National Service the year after but received special dispensation to tour the West Indies with the MCC after impressing with a performance of 169 v Leicestershire. He played two Tests - was unimpressive in the first and tenacious in the second. He injured himself so badly before the third Test that he did not return to cricket again for a year.

In 1949, Smithson won the County Championship (shared with Middlesex) but then dropped out the side. He did not play first class cricket for two years but was then signed by Leicestershire with whom he played for five years. He proved that his best was far from behind him by scoring 1264 runs in his first season.

After retiring professionally, Smithson would occasionally turn out for Hertfordshire but was predominantly a school cricket coach and groundsman.

He died prematurely at the age of 43.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2013 a big hitting encounter sees India triumph over Australia.

In brief: India hit 19 sixes led by Rohit Sharma's 209 and ended up with 383. Australia replied with 19 sixes of their own, were led by James Faulkner's 116 but only managed 326.

Australia won the toss and elected to bowl. Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan started well, if not spectacularly, with 112 off 19 overs. Then two things happened which forced Sharma to up his run rate: Dhawan was clean bowled by Xavier Doherty for 60 and Virat Kohli was run out with Sharma being the guilty party. Sharma began to make light work of the spinners, treating Doherty and Glenn Maxwell with disdain. He carried his bat, with only the basest of support - MS Dhoni was the only other batsman to have accompanied him for any longer than nine overs.

In reply, Australia were all at sea at 74-4 in the seventeenth over. Then came Maxwell's input. He reached 28 off 6 balls, 50 off 18 and 60 off 22. Then came an injured Shane Watson. To say that Watson was forced to hit big shows a lack of knowledge of how Watson elects to play but he scorched 6 sixes in a 28 ball 49.

Through all this Faulkner was something of a spectator. He did not come to life until after his big hitting buddies had departed and he was partnered with Clint McKay. Together they added 115 runs - in less spectacular fashion than those that went before but no less important. The pair got the equation down to 67 off 48 balls when India ended it in a flash. Ravindra Jadeja bowled McKay and Faulkner mistimed one off Mohammed Shami to be caught by Dhawan. India had the game and the series.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2013 Bangladesh defeat New Zealand for one of their best series in their history.

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl. New Zealand took advantage of this and soon had racked up the highest score at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium - 307.

The openers, Anton Devchich and Tom Latham, put on 66 runs in the first 13 overs. This was broken when Devchich played a poor shot off the bowling of Mahmudullah which was gratefully received by Abdur Razzak.

Ross Taylor was the trailblazer for the New Zealanders with a 93 ball 107. He was ably assisted with 85 from Colin Munro in a fourth wicket partnership worth 130 runs.

Taylor's innings held together the death overs with his boundary packed score. He and Munro cleverly exploited the Bangladesh field placement to tease and manipulate Mushfiqur Rahman's strategies. The pair were also helped by some woeful bowling - especially from Sohag Gazi and Mashrafe Mortaza.

In the chase, Shamsur Rahman put down the foundations with a priceless 96 runs. He and his opening partner, Ziaur Rahman, regularly found the boundary and seemed to be targeting Mitchell McClenaghan. Ziaur was out first to that very bowler on 22.

There was a period of concern around the 20th over when Ziaur's replacement, Mominul Haque, and Mushfiqur both went within five balls of each other. This rendered Bangladesh 129/3. Shamsur then joined forces with Nassem Islam with whom he scored 75 runs and pushed the Bangladeshis towards victory. Shamsur was eventually out in the 34th over, caught behind off the bowling of Corey Anderson.

Mahmudullah and Nasir Hossain took Bangladesh to the brink of victory - but the former fell with two overs to go. Hossain and Gazi took Bangladesh over the line.

Bangladesh will have a lot to smile about after having beaten New Zealand 3-0 across the series.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1934 a Ranji Trophy game between Madras and Mysore was completed in a day.

Madras won the toss and elected to bowl - perhaps seeing that the wicket was not the most conducive to batting. This was very much borne out when, after an unsuspecting start, Mysore went from 12-0 to 14-3 - Ram Singh bagging all three wickets. A fourth wicket stand between Curtis and Renshaw Nailer saw Mysore reach 38-4 but, in a remarkable collapse, they went on to lose their last six wickets for just ten more runs. Ram was their chief destroyer with figures of 6-19. The other four being claimed by ex-Kent player Conrad Johnstone.

Madras faired only marginally better with the bat. Their opening partnership put on double what Mysore's did but 23-2 is nothing to crow about. The real difference between the two teams was their lower top and upper middle order. Only one of batsmen three through eight did not make double figures. None of these scores were particularly huge (the highest was Morappakam Gopalan's 23) but it was enough to give Madras some momentum. They too underwent a late collapse with four of their last five going for single figures but their total of 130 gave them a lead of 82. Mysore had a bowler who got a sixfer to match Ram's - Mysore Vijayasarathi got figures of 6-23.

If Mysore were hoping to see through the day, at 4-2 they may have felt a bit deflated. The best partnership of the second innings between Ramamurthi and Murari was worth thirteen and stabilised things a bit but Mysore had nothing to offer. A late spell of defiance between Safi Darashah and Englishman Mark Teversham gave Mysore no hope. They managed just 59 in their second innings. Madras had won by an innings and 23 runs. Ram got 5-16, taking his match figures to 11-35.

[sussexpob]

Sounds a hell of a day to attend

[The Professor]

On this day in 1992 England and Kent's Jack Davies died.

Davies was a very talented sportsman as well as an intellectual. He studied Classics at Cambridge and also played rugby at a semi professional level. However this was nothing but a hobby for him. He turned out for Kent in the Summer Holidays whilst studying at Cambridge. He played almost every game between 1931 and 1935 and had impeccable figures. In his 153 games he scored 5982 runs at an average of 23.92. His high score was 168.

He answered the call of his country when war came, becoming the Chief Psychologist at the Directorate of Personnel Section. After the war he returned to Cambridge University in an administrative role.

After retiring from First Class cricket he still turned out for the MCC aim their annual match against Cambridge University until 1961.

[The Professor]

On this day 1876 England, Surrey's Ernie Hayes was born.

Hayes was a strong batsman who would often bat at first drop. He also bowled intermittently, however he had seasons where he peaked with the ball; most notably 1905 and 1912 where he got 76 and 60 respectively.

Hayes' England career was not a huge success. He played just five Test matches scoring 86 at 10.75.

At the outbreak of war, Hayes joined up and earned an MBE for his service. He tried to continue his cricketing career in 1919 but found himself hampered by an injury sustained during fielding.

In his career he scored 27,318 runs with 48 centuries. He also took 515 wickets.

In retirement he coached Surrey and ran a pub.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2015 a number of cricketing greats faced off against each other in New York.

A teams led by Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne met for a T20 game to kick off a 'Cricket All-Stars Series.'

Shane Warne won the toss and put his team into field. Virender Sehwag tried to make Warne pay for this with a sparkling 22 ball 55 accompanied by Tendulkar. Their 85 run partnership led Tendulkar's team into a false sense of security as the rest of the team fell away. The only other partnership of any worth was Mahela Jayawardene and Carl Hooper and was worth just 21. Tendulkar's team crawled to a less than impressive 140.

Warne's team played their innings in reverse. Jaques Kallis and Matthew Hayden both went cheaply, however a solid third wicket partnership of 80 between Kumar Sangakarra and Ricky Ponting. Sangakarra played aggressively and scorched to his score; whilst Ponting played more circumspectly and ended not out with the best part of three overs left to play.