On This Day

[The Professor]

On this day in 2016 West Indies and Carlos Brathwaite defeat England to win World Cup.

Darren Sammy won the toss and chose to put England in. England got off to the worst possible start when they lost Jason Roy and Alex Hales within the first two overs to make the score 8-2. Joe Root held the England innings together with very little help from anyone else around him. This was against some spectacular bowling and fielding from the West Indies. Jos Buttler came in from a late cameo that saw him score 36 off 22 balls and form a 61 run partnership with Root.

While many remember the heroics of Brathwaite on that night in Kolkata, Marlon Samuels' innings was the one that did the most damage. Samuels, a figure that oozes the style of the West Indian Cricketer, chose the big occasion to play a big innings. His unopposed 85 was achieved with little support from any other batsman around him. He got the equation down to 45 needed off the last five overs...then 38 from the last three and then 27 from the last two. Then Carlos Brathwaite faced the bowling of Ben Stokes....and we all know what happened then.

Throughout the course of the tournament, West Indies went from being a team unravelling due to pay disputes to a triumphant champion.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1915 Middlesex and England's Andrew Stoddart was found dead.

Stoddart rose to prominence in the Middlesex team of the late 1880s and early 1890s - a period where cricket in general and that particular team were hugely popular. He was a more than competent shot maker and a crowd pleaser. Some of his most pleasing performances saw him get huge totals including a score of 485 in a friendly game for Hampstead.

He was a truly internationally acclaimed sportsman in an age where that was tricky. His skill was widely acknowledged in Australia where he visited as part of touring teams four times.

Andrew Stoddart is one of the most highly regarded multi-discipline internationals that England have ever seen; turning out for his national side for both cricket and rugby. He was the first man to captain an England team in two sports. He played ten games for the England rugby team between 1886 and 1893 and also turned out for the Middlesex rugby team.

Andrew Stoddart killed himself by shooting himself with a revolver. He had been suffering from poor health and had to resign from public life the year prior. It was widely believed that he suffered from depression brought on by a poor financial situation.

The details of his suicide was very well publicised. He told his wife, Ethel, that it was his intention to end his life. She implored him to wait until the next day but he insisted. A struggle ensued between the two of them. She discovered the revolver was unloaded and gave it back to him - after taking his box of cartridges away. Later in the night she discovered him in bed with blood on his head. It emerged he had another box of cartridges and had shot himself in the head. He was 52.

[braveneutral]

That's rather tragic.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1989 England and Middlesex's Steven Finn was born so I do something I have not done in a while and rank my top Five Finn Figures.

5. Catch for Middlesex v Somerset 2016

A lot of this list will be given over to Finn's bowling expertise for England so I thought I would open it by giving him some credit domestically and for his fielding. Finn is an excellent fieldsman due to his height. One catch that stands out in my mind is a sprawling catch to dismiss Johann Myburgh with the ball behind him in last year's T20 Blast.

4. 6-125 for England v New Zealand in 2013

Expensive though his innings were Finn destroyed the New Zealanders by dismissing both their openers and decimating their tail. He showed himself to be an ever reliable member of the team and managed to displace some particularly stoic batsmen from their crease. The match fizzled out to a draw but Finn emerged with honours.

3. 5-71 for England v Australia in 2015.

Finn's outstanding figures were topped off by a hat trick on his World Cup debut - the first ever hat trick by an English bowler in a World Cup game. He stemmed the flow of runs in the middle order before dismissing Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc of successive balls in the final over. It was also his fourth fivefer in ODI cricket.

2. 6-49 for England v Australia in 2015

Just like the Cricketers of yesteryear, Finn's best performances come disproportionately against Australian batsmen. This is one of his finer showings in terms of figures. Some superb bowling saw him compared to Glenn McGrath by the Australian press.

1. 4-37 for England v Australia in 2012

Not the highest figures he has ever had but certainly one of the more destructive. The brutality with which he sent back David Warner and then Peter Forrest really shook the Australians. He returned later in the game to take the captain Michael Clarke in another psychological blow.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I remember Finn as being pretty poor in that WC in 2015. His best bowling in any format may well have been in the ODIs in India in 2013, which was his peak. Then he got injured and has never been as good, or as fast. In Tests, since then, his bowling average has been mid thirties. His bowling stats in terms of SR, econ and average since that injury have been the same as Ben Stokes, a batting all rounder who rarely gets first use of a new or newly reverse swinging ball and doesn't have the benefit of himself standing at slip.

[Arthur Crabtree]

That's over four years, a long slump. My hunch is that unless Finn gets his pace back, he's not coming back. Yet he doesn't see his pace as a problem, even though his best returns were when he was hitting 90mph (off his old run up).

[The Professor]

That's over four years, a long slump. My hunch is that unless Finn gets his pace back, he's not coming back. Yet he doesn't see his pace as a problem, even though his best returns were when he was hitting 90mph (off his old run up).

Happy Biiirthday dear Steven
Happy birthday to youuuuu

[Arthur Crabtree]

Getting on a bit now too...

[The Professor]

I was there for that one. Amazed to see Blackwell's bowling.

Just seen his was umpiring for the Hampshire v Cardiff MCCU game

[The Professor]

On this day in 2016 big hitting performances put Nottinghamshire in pole position against Cambridge MCCU.

Steven Mullaney proved the impetus in the early overs - especially when Notts lost three batsmen cheaply. All of Brendan Taylor (3), Michael Lumb (13) and James Taylor (10) would have been disappointed with their scores. Despite this lack of success, by the time Taylor was dismissed the score was 110-3 thanks to Mullaney's big hitting.

Mullaney was then joined by Riki Wessels who looked more inclined to stick around. The pair put on 153 together before Mullaney became the first victim of Josh Arksey. He got 139.

Wessels then took over as the big shot hitter but had more support than Mullaney did. Samit Patel helped him to a partnership of 99 and over his century. When Wessels got to 143 he took the decision to retire as the first day drew to a close. Samit Patel marched on alongside an impressive looking Chris Read - until both got out hot on each other's heels. The day closed with Nottinghamshire on 530-8 and Luke Wood on 25 and Jake Ball on 18.

Arksey was the pick of the student bowlers with 3-132 - a figure that shows how dominant Notts were with the bat.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2016 fifteen wickets fall between Cambridge MCCU and Nottinghamshire.

Nottinghamshire declared on their overnight total of 530 with a view to giving their bowlers a run out....and a run out they duly got.

Only one of the Cambridge players got into double figures and that was a mere ten from Harrison Palmer. Palmer was joined at the crease by a succession of six different batsmen with only Harry Ellison (8) and Adil Arif (7) fronting up to make partnerships of over 9. Within 23 overs, Cambridge MCCU were all out for 52.

The Nottinghamshire bowlers shared the spoils around. Brett Hutton got the best figures of 4-6 from 4 overs but Jake Ball's 3-21 and Harry Gurney's 2-3 from 6 overs were also instrumental.

As you can imagine Nottinghamshire were able to start their second innings. The wickets did not stop there. Brendan Taylor and Michael Lumb - who had failed in the first innings - both fell cheaply off the bowling of Alastair Allchin to render Nottinghamshire 42-2. Samit Patel and Hutton then put together a partnership worth 50 to put the show back on the road for the Division Two team.

The big hitting allrounder Patel was the first out for 62. Hutton was then joined by Luke Wood who put on a battling 44 together. Hutton was out off the last ball of the day for 44. Josh Arksey got all three of these wickets leaving him with 3-41 and 6 in the match.

Nottinghamshire are 170-5 and 648 ahead of Cambridge.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2016 Cambridge MCCU put up more of a fight but still fall to huge loss.

Just as on the start of Day Two, Day Three began with a Nottinghamshire declaration with the Division Two team 649 runs ahead. Cambridge MCCU needed to improve on their 52 from the first innings.

This looked dangerous when Joe Tetley was caught behind off the bowling of Jake Ball after scoring six of his team's seven runs. Harrison Palmer and Harry Ellison, whose partnership of 15 was the biggest in Cambridge's first innings, then put on 25 to take the students to the halfway mark of their first innings total with only two down.

Cambridge's propensity to lose wickets in clusters did not abandon them on Day Three. Ellison broke the partnership with Palmer and was swiftly followed by Ben Bryant and Adil Arif to render Cambridge 47-4.

Palmer then stuck around for the biggest partnership of Cambridge's second innings alongside Tom Colverd. The pair swelled their team's total to 92-6 before Luke Wood dislodged Palmer for 31.

The rest of the day belonged to Wood who ran through the last 5 batsman with very little trouble. Drew Brierley and Alistair Allchin's partnership of 13 was ended when the latter was caught lbw by Wood on 13. The final wicket partnership between Josh Arksey and Alan Barton put up a frustrating 18 before the latter was removed by that man Wood. Cambridge MCCU were all out for 131 handing Nottinghamshire a 517 run victory.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1883 Cricketer, academic and soldier Richard Keigwin was born.

On many occasions I have highlighted Cricketers who have covered many different sporting disciplines, Keigwin was a very talented sportsman in a number of fields but also achieved a lot in the sphere of academia.

Keigwin was born in Essex but did not let that stop him from going to Clifton College - one of the more renowned institutions at the time. It was here that he first showed sporting excellence- representing, and eventually captaining, the colleges' Rackets team.

He went on to Cambridge University where he studied Classics and Modern Languages. Whilst there he excelled at tennis at a time where he competed regularly against Tony Wilding, who would go on to win Wimbledon. He also represented the University at cricket, rackets, football and hockey.

Keigwin turned out for the MCC due to his prowess with his University side and would go on to play for Essex and Gloucestershire.

During the war he was stationed on HMS Indomitable off the coast of Belgium and played a key role in the defence of Denmark, where he settled after the war.

After the war he founded a cricket team in Denmark and organised visiting teams such as the MCC, Leicestershire and Worcestershire to turn out against them. He took to translating texts from Danish into English.

He died in Suffolk in 1972.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2016 Pune get off to the best of starts in IPL with a victory over reigning champions, Mumbai.

Mumbai won the toss and elected to bat but struggled from the outset. It took the late intervention of a player more recognised for his bowling - Harbhajan Singh - to give the Mumbai innings any sign of life. In terms of figures Mitchell Marsh's 2-21 was the best bowler but Rajat Bhatia's tight economy was hugely useful too. Notably Ravi Ashwin only bowled a single over. Mumbai managed a mere 121.

Ajinkya Rahane hit the ground running at the start of the Pune innings with a couple of well placed fours. He and Faf du Plessis put on 78 before the latter was removed by Harbhajan for 34 - the only Pune batsman to be dismissed. The Mumbai fielders had a chance to get him out earlier in the match and also slipped up on a chance to remove Rahane early on. Pune polished off the total in a shade under 15 overs with Rahane on 66 and Kevin Pietersen on 21.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1786 an English team play a French team in the Champs Elyses.

In what was only the fifth mention of cricket catalogued in The Times, they reported that the third Duke of Dorset, John Sackville, led a team of English gentlemen against a French team. Sackville was known as a very competent Cricketer, skilful and athletic.

No record of the score was made but the English team were triumphant.