On This Day

[The Professor]

On this day in 2012 Pakistan beat India away for the first time in five years.

India started very strongly with openers Gautam Gambhir and Ajinkya Rahane piecing together a partnership of 77. Pakistan's bowlers, led by Umar Gul, never gave up and turned the tables once the opening partnership was broken up when Shahid Afridi dismissed the cavalier Rahane.

Gambhir was forced to up his run rate with the loss of his partner. He was eventually run out going for another run in the thirteenth over. From there India's game changed from aggression to survival in the blink of an eye. They would have been very disappointed to have only got to 133 after being 77-1

Pakistan's chase was held together by experienced innings from Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik who combatted low scores around them to drag Pakistan to success. Compared to Pakistan's bowling expertise, India looked a bit desperate - at one point chucking the ball to Virat Kohli. The best display from an Indian bowler came from Ishant Sharma who dismissed Hafeez and kept a tight economy in the death overs.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2015 attractive Australian batting plus poor West Indian bowling and fielding gives Australia command of Second Test.

The combination of Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns very much put the dampeners on West Indies and, although neither lasted the day, could have a huge effect on the Test overall.

The two younger batsmen had to do without their more senior partner when David Warner was dismissed on 23 from 20 balls by Jerome Taylor. Warner had looked nervy from the off. He was nearly out off his twelfth delivery and was over reaching. After his dismissal it was the Khawaja and Burns show and Australia looked nothing other than dominant.

The West Indies batsmen looked hugely underwhelming and did not look to be exerting any pressure on the Australian batsmen. Khawaja and Burns looked content to pinpoint the bowlers they felt were West Indies weakest and get the most runs out of them that they could. Carlos Brathwaite was the target of this all too often.

The fielding also leaved a fair bit to be desired.

It was fitting that both batsmen got their centuries in the same Joel Warrican over. Tiredness and overconfidence was the downfall for both batsmen. Burns went for one more big slog off Brathwaite and was caught by behind. Khawaja was also caught behind but it was glanced.

This was no respite for the West Indies as they were replaced by Steve Smith and Adam Voges - no slouches themselves. The captain had 32 runs with Voges on 10. Australia were 345/3.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2015 Australia showed no festive mercy to West Indies.

Steve Smith and Adam Voges continued as they finished Day One - batting with little trouble and taking no risks. It soon became apparent that both batsmen were batting for centuries. Inevitably they both got there. The declaration came shortly after Voges got his fourth hundred in twelve matches.

The batsmen had begun the torture but the bowlers showed they were willing to continue it. Peter Siddle, James Pattinson and Nathan Lyon were all unrelenting in line and length. Where West Indies felt the need to rotate their bowlers and rest - Australia felt no such desire. Perhaps tired from their toil in the field the West Indies batsmen seemed laboured in the skill they usually excel in.

The West Indian opening batsmen both went to poor mistakes after getting themselves settled. Kraigg Brathwaite's technique was found lacking when he placed one into the hands of Smith. Rajendra Chandrika lbw off Pattinson whilst not playing a shot.

So soon into the middle order, the mistakes did not dry up. Jermain Blackwood was nearly out to the first ball he faced but then managed to consolidate to a 28 - surviving a television referral along the way.

Late in the day (as it so often is with West Indies) Denesh Ramdin and Jason Holder joined Marlon Samuels by scoring ducks.

By the close of play West Indies were on 89-6 chasing 551 with a follow on looking more than likely. Darren Bravo (13) and Carlos Brathwaite (3) are at the crease.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2015 West Indies show a bit of fight to take the game to Australia.

Australia had aspirations of finishing this Test within three days but Darren Bravo and Carlos Brathwaite combined on Day Three to resurrect West Indies' first innings and take their total to an unexpectedly high 271. Both batted patiently but began to up the ante as they got more comfortable.

It was Australia's day to be lax in the field today as James Pattinson, so consistent yesterday, bowled two no balls that reprieved Brathwaite. Nathan Lyon was of good quality but the rest seemed as ineffective as West Indies looked yesterday.

Even when Australia were batting, West Indies were more impressive. Joe Burns was out cheaply. Following that David Warner and Usman Khawaja got out needlessly to leave Australia on 179-3 at stumps.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2015 Australia seize Test victory over West Indies.

Despite a late fight from the West Indies, Australia's win was dominant in the end.

Mitchell Marsh did the majority of the damage for Australia with figures of 4-61 with Nathan Lyon and James Pattinson both chipping in with three and two respectively.

Irregardless of the manner of Australia's victory, the West Indies' performance had it's merits and there were many decent individual performances.

Kraigg Brathwaite and Rajendra Chandrika's opening partnership yielded 35 runs before it was broken up by Lyon's removal of Brathwaite. The partnership of Chandrika and Darren Bravo looked even more dominant, with Bravo continuing his stoic style of batting he showed in his first innings. Australia celebrated the dismissal of Bravo just before lunch, however it was discovered that Josh Hazlewood had none of his foot behind the line and the batsman was granted another life. Soon after lunch both batsmen were gone; Bravo to Peter Siddle and Hazlewood returning for Chandrika.

The most unlikely partnership of the day came from Denesh Ramdin and Jason Holder who managed 100 for the 6th wicket. When Marsh claimed the pair of them within eight overs of each other the tail had nothing to offer and the West Indies fight did not even succeed in taking it to the final day.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1919 Warwickshire and England's *modded* Spooner was born.

Spooner was a late bloomer in the cricketing world and did not make his First Class debut until the age of 28. He made his name playing Minor Counties cricket for Durham in 1946-7 where he caught the eye of Warwickshire predominantly as a wicketkeeper.

By 1951 he was a fully fledged wicketkeeper-batsman, scoring 1700 runs in the season. Aged 32, he was called up for the MCC tour of India where he played all five Tests scoring 319 runs with an average of 35. Despite this impressive haul it was the only extended period of time Spooner spent in the England set up.

After his foray with the England side, Spooner went back to Warwickshire where he scored over a thousand runs a season for the next four seasons.

Spooner died aged 77 in 1996.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1864 cricketer and politician William Bridgeman was born.

Of all the politicians that could handle a bat and ball Bridgeman was one of the more capable.

Like most Victorian politicians, Bridgeman was born into a moneyed family - the son of a vicar and the grandson of an Earl.

He had the good grace to get his cricket career out the way before entering politics. He cut a promising career short to become part of the Conservative Party. In his thirteen first class matches for Cambridge University, he scored 361 runs with a high score of 162*.

By the age of 25 he had already become embroiled in the world of politics. By 1911 he had become opposition whip and, when the Conservatives won the 1915 election, government whip.

The peak of his career came in 1922 when he became Home Secretary under the new coalition government of Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin.

After his retirement from front line politics he took up a number of positions - was briefly Chairman of the BBC.

Before his death he became a Lord. He died in 1935 aged 70.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1892 Australia dominated the first day of the Test against Australia.

Australia won the toss and elected to bat- seemingly the best choice as their batsmen dominated the day. Alec Bannerman and John Lyons put together an opening partnership of 32. When Bobby Peel dismissed Lyons there was a wobble when George Giffen was also sent back by Peel, lbw for 2.

It was the partnership of Bannerman and William Bruce that dominated the day. Worth 87 runs they swelled the total from a precarious 36-2 to 123-3. Bruce went first as he had been the more dynamic batsmen and had got his 57 in 115 minutes. Bannerman, next out, had been more watchful taking 195 minutes to get to 45. Australia were now 136-4.

There was then a mini collapse that was only halted by stumps. Harry Moses was the only set batsman who watched as the rest of the tail melted away around him. It seemed like Bob McLeod would see him through to stumps but he was bowled on 14 by John Sharpe.

Close of play came with Australia on 191-7 with Moses on 23 and Sydney Callaway on 11.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1892 England's opening three batsmen give them the edge on Australia.

At the end of Day One, Australia were pinning their hopes on Harry Moses. Their hopes would have dropped early on Day Two when Moses was caught by George Lohmann of fthe bowling of John Sharpe having not made a run. Instead Australia should have been holding out for Charlie Turner who, alongside Sydney Callaway held the tail together and got them to their total of 240.

The England innings followed the same pattern as the Australian one did. Strong start, bit of a wobble, into a resurgence. However the strong start was far stronger. WG Grace, Bobby Abel and George Bean put on 132 together - with Grace and Bean both getting half centuries. By the time Bean got out England had got to 171-4 - the missing batsman being Andrew Stoddart out for a duck.

Where Moses had held together the middle order for Australia, Maurice Read was being asked to do the same for England. He was being offered very little support by those around him and was looking to last the rest of the day before being out, caught and bowled by George Giffen. Johnny Briggs was then forced to take over the duties of keeping strike against the odds and did well to close out the last session.

All seven of the wickets taken by Australia on Day Two were taken by Giffen or Bob McLeod. The former snaring three with the latter taking the rest of the haul.

At stumps England were on 248-7 with Briggs on 41* accompanied by William Attewell on 7*. England lead by 8 runs.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1892 there was a rest day between Australia and England - or as I should have been calling them Lord Sheffield's XI.

The term 'England' to define the squad who travelled to Australia in 1892 is a retrospective one instead it was a party of English Cricketers headed by Lord Sheffield. If it were not for the philanthropy of Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield then no such tour would have taken place.

Born into money, Holroyd became a Conservative MP. On receiving the earldom from his father in 1872 he began charitable work with regards to cricket. One such example is his sponsorship of this tour in 1892, however it extended beyond our waters.

The Sheffield Shield is so named after Lord Sheffield after he donated £150 to purchase the trophy.

On his return he saved Sussex from bankruptcy and became their Club president and also built a cricket ground in his grounds.

He died unmarried and childless and with him the earldom died out.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1892 Australia's openers return England's favours on Day Theee.

Just as Day Two started with wickets, Day Three began with both Johnny Briggs and William Attewell being dismissed by Charlie Turner for the gain of only a single run. The last two batsmen could only muster another eleven runs which meant that England were all out for 264 - a 24 run first innings lead - perhaps a disappointment from where they started.

Perhaps taking a leaf out of England's openers book, Alec Bannerman and John Lyons set off with a partnership of 66 runs. After England broke that partnership with John Sharpe dismissing Lyons, George Griffen was also soon returning after Attewell bowled him for one. A prospective wobble was staunched by William Bruce who, alongside Bannerman put on 53 runs. Bruce was next out with 40 on the board and Australia on 120-3.

Bannerman and, new partner, Charlie Turner were looking to end the day with their partnership intact however both lost their wickets in the closing salvos of the game.

At 152-5, Australia would have to start Day Four with Harry Moses and Harry Trott both on 0 but with their team possessing a lead of 128.

[The Professor]

On this day Australia put up a fight but England disintegrate.

Australia's tail began the day on the back foot but the two Harrys - Moses and Trott - put together a partnership of 30 runs. It was Trott who put in the hard yards for Australia with Moses only scoring 7 of those 30 runs and it was he who went first bowled by William Attewell for 23. Bob McLeod then slipped into Trott's position exactly - allowing Moses to play parochially and being the more dynamic batsman. Interestingly it was then Moses who got himself out - run out for 15.

This forced McLeod to up the ante. He was not helped in this when he lost a partner in Harry Donnan for two. Sydney Callaway proved a surprising foil for McLeod and the two rear-enders put on 26 together before McLeod and Jack Blackham fell in short order. In all the last four bowlers added 84 runs and gave Australia a lead of 212.

Just as in the first innings, the England openers began strongly with W.G. Grace and Andrew Stoddart putting on 60 runs together. They went in succeeding overs off the bowling of Charlie Turner and Callaway respectively. From there England's batting melted away. Wickets tumbled regularly with Trott and Turner being Australia's torturers in chief. Trott got two of the next five wickets with Turner getting the other three. England tumbled from 60-0 to 104-7 at stumps in the blink of an eye. Only two further batsmen got into single figures for England - Maurice Read and Bobby Abell's 11 and 28 only overlapped for four runs and England were left wondering what could have happened if they had batted longer together.

England are in need of 108 runs with only a further three batsmen.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1892 Australia prevail despite England fightback.

If Australia wanted complete capitulation from England on Day 5 they were disappointed. England's last four batsmen put more of a fight on than the previous four did on Day 4.

The overnight partnership of Bobby Abel and Gregor MacGregor (let's just stop for a second and savour that name...) added a frustrating 21 runs to England's total before MacGregor was bowled by Harry Trott.

The stoicism did not end there. Abel marched on - this time with William Attewell. The partnership was only worth 14 runs before Abel was dismissed for 28 but it allowed Attewell to mount a late last charge for England scoring 14 of the 19 runs of the final wicket stand with John Sharpe.

Despite this brave display it was a surprising and humiliating 54 run victory for Australia.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1908 England make a meal of a win v Australia.

England began the final day of the Second Test v England needing 122 runs to win with six batsmen. They set about making this as difficult as possible for themselves by losing a hat load of wickets cheaply. Only two more runs were added to the overnight score before Joe Hardstaff was sent back by Tibby Cotter.

Len Braund, the other overnight batsman, forged a new partnership with Wilfred Rhodes that was worth 34 runs before both men were dismissed in short order. When Jack Crawford was out for a mere ten runs, the score read 209-8 with England needing 73 runs to win. It looked like England had messed up.

Joe Humphries and Sydney Barnes then put together a surprising 34 run partnership before Barnes and Arthur Fielder put on an even more surprising partnership of 39. Barnes' batting was ludicrously calm, cool and collected as he got himself to 38* for a win that was made more difficult than it ever needed to be.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1959 Karachi's bowlers put Bahawalpur to the sword in Day One of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy semi final.

The day started badly for Bahawalpur with their opening batsman, Zulfiqar Ahmed, out for a duck before a run had been scored. Ijaz Hussain and Iqbal Chaudhri tried to put this right and stayed for the majority of the morning session building up a partnership of 43 before both fell in short order, leaving Bahawalpur 46-3.

Things went from bad to worse when batsman number four, Mohammad Ramzan, was playing some strong, intelligent cricket but was losing partners with startling regularity. The highest score for the next four batsmen was 12 as Bahawalpur saw the match slipping away from them. Ramzan found a partner late on with Asad Bhatti but it was too little too late as Bahawalpur were bowled out for 185. Ikram Elahi was the pick of the Karachi bowlers with figures of 4-48.

By stumps the opening pair of batsmen for Karachi were Hanif Mohammad (25) and Alimuddin (31). Karachi were 59-0 - just 126 behind Bahawalpur already.