On This Day

[GarlicJam]

not even close. Huh.


I must have believed someone - after all, it is doubtful I got something wrong...

[The Professor]

On this day in 1948 a day for the cricketing purist sees India plod on.

With a monumental target to overturn India were in no rush to try anything showy on Day Three.

It was Vinoo Mankad and Hemu Adhikari who persevered first. They put on a partnership of 124 that started the day before Adhikari was out for 38 off Sam Loxton showing that Mankad had done the majority of the donkey work.

Vijay Hazare then came in and put together the second defining partnership of the day, adding 79 alongside Mankad. When Mankad fell on 111 he had batted for five hours spread across two days.

Lala Armanath was the only batsman to let himself down for India as he was out for a measly 12 but this brought Dattu Phadkar to the crease who accompanied Hazare to stumps. The set batsman was on 72 with the newcomer on 8.

The fact that India had batted all day and still had a first innings deficit of 324 was indicative of the type of cricket that was being played.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1948 all of England’s patient work was ruined by moments of madness to hand Australia Test victory.

The day started bleakly for India with the dismissal of Vijay Hazare for the gain of just another 2 runs. This was the beginning of a dramatic slide wherein only Dattu Phadkar managed to put up any worthwhile fight. Out of the last five batsmen for India the highest score was Gogumal Kishenchand’s 14. It was only Phadkar’s half century that managed to take India to 331 – still not enough to avoid the follow on.

The second innings became an embarrassing procession for India with no Indian batsman willing to stand up and be counted. Vinoo Mankad, the star of the first innings, was out for a duck with no run on the board. It was, again, the loss of Hazare that killed the innings. It was bad enough that India had fallen to 51-5 but the fact that their last five wickets were for the gain of just sixteen runs was a humiliation.

Len Johnson was the most impressive bowler on the day with a total of 6 wickets – three in the first innings and three in the second.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1788 cricket gets one of it's first ever mentions in The Times.

The brief article reports on the fact that dancing masters have arrived in Cambridge and are teaching the locals the art of boxing, cricket and trap ball.

The writer goes on to say that these dancing masters profess that the games are "truly classic, as having made a part of the ancient gymnastic and Olympic exercises."

[The Professor]

On this day in 2016 solid batting combines with effective bowling to give India victory over Sri Lanka.

India showed batting dominance all the way down the order with their top five all contributing at least twenty five runs. The Indian batsmen took advantage of some pretty substandard Sri Lankan batting to dominate in the opening overs.

Shikhar Dhawan was the most impressive of the opening batsmen and got 51 off 25 balls before placing a catch in the hands of Dinesh Chandimal. Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane then set off on a partnership of 47 runs. When they were both dismissed in successive overs, Sri Lanka may have been licking their lips but the worst was yet to come. Suresh Raina hit a 19 ball 30 and zoned in on some of the more dubious Sri Lankan bowling while Hardik Pandya's turn of 27 off 12 was high impact. India eventually reached 196.

Sri Lanka were somewhat taken aback when Spinner Ravi Ashwin opened the bowling for India but it had an instant impact when Tillakaratne Dilshan was out in the first over. He was soon joined by Danushka Gunathilaka and Seekkuge Prasanna as Ashish Nehra sent them back in successive overs. Luckily, by this time, Chandimal had seized the game by the scruff of the neck and the score stood at 16-3. Not bad for a third over where you have lost three batsmen for 2, 0 and 1.

Chamara Kapugedera and Chandimal then seemed to want to play for longevity rather than for high scoring as they got only 52 runs off 49 balls. By the time they were both dismissed by Ravinda Jadeja, the run rate was proving too high and, after a period where they settled into the crease, Milinda Siriwardana and Dasun Shanaka attempted to push on - only for Shanka to be pushed out for 27 off the bowling of Ashwin.

Off the next thirteen balls Three Sri Lankan players were dismissed for ducks as Siriwardana looked on in vain at the other end. He ended the game not out on 28 as his team were stranded 69 runs behind India.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1936 Somerset's John Harris was born.

Harris was a young bloomer, playing for Somerset three times at the age of 16 before he was called up for National Service.

When he returned he found himself in the reverse position to how he had established himself in his opening games. He was picking up handy runs but struggling to bag the wickets that he used to. After a season of being a constant in the team, he did not play a single game in the season of 1958.

On his return to the team in 1959 he found wickets easier to come by and got his career best figures of 3-29 against Worcestershire. This would be his last season for Somerset.

After his release by Somerset, he turned out for Suffolk for four seasons before going into retirement. This was not the end of his career though as, twelve years later, at the age of 39 he turned out for Devon for a handful of games.

In 1983 Harris became an umpire and went on to officiate in 288 first-class and 308 List A games, until he retired at the end of the 2000 season.

He is currently affiliated with the Somerset Players Association.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1870 skating and cricket occurred in the Fens of Cambridgeshire.

The Mere Fen, situated about 11 miles from Cambridge, had flooded and frozen and a tournament of skating and a cricket match on ice was swiftly organised. The Great Eastern Railway Company set up special trains to take up huge numbers of the University students to participate and spectate.

The cricket match was between a team of 11 amalgamated of some members of the All England Eleven combined with the University team against a team of 16 from the neighbourhood of Swavesey.

The game began at 12.30 and Bob Carpenter, captain of the England team, won the toss and put Swavesey into bat. A Mr C. Baker was the star of the show for Swavesey with a score of 77 - including a 12 and a 9 off two successive hits. All in all Swavesey got 125.

The England side mounted their defence at half last two and soon outstripped their rural rivals. Within in an hour they were 280-8. Despite their success nobody outdid Mr Baker's 77. Tom Hayward carried his bat for 51 - which included eight off a single shot and was accompanied by a Mr West of Magdalen College who got 27.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1888 England need five wickets before Australia get 161 runs to win Test.

It was an uphill challenge for Australia, made even more vertiginous by the loss of overnight pair Tom Garrett and Sammy Jones for the gain of just two more runs. This took the equation to 159 runs needed with just three Australian tailenders to come.

Jack Blackham was the only man that seemed to have any burning desire to make a day of it for Australia. He hogged the strike in order to get to 25 whilst the last two batsman Jack Worrall and JJ Ferris crumbled under the pressure to get 1 and 5 respectively. Bobby Peel and George Lohmann shared two wickets apiece as Australia lost by 126 runs.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2016 Australia clinch catastrophic victory over New Zealand.

Australia's bowlers put pressure on the New Zealand batsmen from the off and paved the way for them limping to 186 in the first innings. The final day mirrored this perfectly.

Having lost Brendan McCullum late on Day Three, New Zealand looked like they had little hope - this was heightened when the ball started doing the bidding of the Australian bowlers without fail. Six overs into the day Mitchell Marsh, who claimed McCullum the night before, sent Corey Anderson back for nought. B.J. Watling was nearly straight out in the next over but persevered for a while. Nathan Lyon eventually got him for ten.

Henry Nicholls, 37 overnight, struggled on through the morning session before being bowled by Jackson Bird on 59 just before lunch.

After lunch it was Josh Hazlewood's turn to claim a batsman, catching Doug Bracewell lbw for 14.

The last three of Mark Craig, Tim Southee and Trent Boult proved more grit than those who had gone before. Southee seemed to be zoning in on Lyon and got most of his 48 runs off the New South Welshman - that being said the Spinner claimed Southee eventually. Southee was abetted by Craig who also put on a good spell alongside Boult but when the latter fell, again to Marsh, it was game over. Australia had won by an innings and 52 runs.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1888 England get off to a poor start against Australia.

The Australians were without two of their star players in the form of Fred Spofforth and Alick Bannerman but they did not seem to be the worse off for it.

England batted first and were completely decimated by Joey Palmer who got stunning figures of 7-68.

When George Ulyett and *modded* Barlow put on 39 for the first wicket, such Australian superiority seemed unlikely but once the former fell to Edwin Evans, England would not see another partnership over 20 until the seventh wicket. Apart from the openers' 25 and 31 respectively, only William Scotton's 30 did England any credit. They were soon all out for just 133.

The Australian fielding had been excellent but the same cannot be said for the England side. Opener Hugh Massie offered a chance with no run scored that was dropped. Massie then raced away to score 49 runs before getting out off Billy Bates. At the end of Day One, Jack Blackham was on 30 whilst night watchman Evans was on 5. Australia were on 86-1 - 47 runs behind England.

[The Professor]

Correction....this was in 1882.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1882 Australia get a taste of their own medicine on Day Two vs England.

After Joey Palmer had run through the England attack yesterday, it was the turn of the English bowlers to do likewise. This time, however, it was more of a group effort as Australia disintegrated to lose nine wickets for the gain of just 111 runs.

It was Billy Bates who was most impressive for England. He had claimed the wicket of Hugh Massie the evening before and got two of the first three Australian wickets today.

The clouds were looming over the Sydney Cricket Ground and there was a sense that Australia were hoping to get runs on the board before the rain hit. This worked against them when two of their batsmen were run out for disappointing scores. The three early dismissals and the two run outs left Australia on 133-6.

Sammy Jones, coming in at number 7, offered a bit of resistance but was not helped by the lower middle order batsmen. The tail did wag when he was joined by Palmer, with whom he scored 27 runs, and George Coulthard, who played the foil in a Jones-dominated partnership of 29. Australia were all out for 197 - 64 runs ahead of England.

England came back in and scored eight when the rain started, bringing a premature end to the day.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1882 Australia and England had a day of rest so we recount England's epic tour of Australia that began all the way back in November of the year before.

By the time England played their first Test with Australia, they had already played 14 exhibition matches under the banner of IFW Bligh's XI. Frustratingly for the tourists six of the first eight matches ended in a draw or an abandoned game, meaning that the English side went from 10th November to 8th January with only an innings and 15 run victory over Maitland and a ten wicket victory over Victoria to their name.

The new year brought better luck with a run of four games that IFW Bligh's XI all won comfortably. The largest margin of victory came against Queensland in a game that started on the 2nd February which the English side won by an innings and 154 runs. Walter Read top scored in that match with 84.

Read was by far the most impressive player in the warm up games. He top scored 4 times; getting 64 in the drawn game against Newcastle, 55 in the drawn game against Ballarat, 84 v Queensland and 66 v Maryborough. He also contributed with the ball getting 4/28 v Victoria. It was a disappointment to the English set up that he only managed 19, 29 and no wickets in the first Test.

Up until the first Test, the English side successfully vanquished Victoria, Maitland, North Tasmania, South Tasmania, Queensland and Maryborough - all emphatically.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1882 England squander a strong start to capitulate to Australia.

George Ulyett and *modded* Barlow did what they started to do in the first innings and put in a fair amount of runs to build a foundation for England. The pair built a partnership of 122 before Ulyett became yet another wicket for Joey Palmer.

This set in motion a cluster of wickets that culminated in Barlow's dismissal and the England score on 156-4.

From here England went into free fall. Arthur Shrewsbury (22) and then Alfred Shaw (30) tried to act as parachutes but had little to no support around them. From 122-1 England added only a further 110 runs for the loss of nine wickets.

Palmer did not have to go it alone this time, although his figures of 4-97 were impressive. Tom Garrett helped Palmer with an equal haul of four wickets but for the cost of just 62 runs.

Australia needed 169 runs to win but lost the wickets of openers Jack Blackham and Hugh Massie before stumps were drawn. Australia found themselves at 35-2 needing 134 runs to win.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1882 Australia make light work of England to seize Test victory.

The chase was dominated by Billy Murdoch but his innings was not chanceless; nor was Australia's performance overly imposing. Murdoch offered two catches on his way to 49 whilst Australia lost a further three batsman.

Murdoch outlasted Tom Horan and Percy McDonnell as they both got themselves set but were dismissed in the twenties. Murdoch was then dismissed off the bowling of Billy Midwinter. It was left to Tom Garrett and Sammy Jones to finish up proceedings - Jones looking especially impressive with a quickfire 31.