On This Day

[The Professor]

On this day in 2015 New Zealand won a tight Pool A contest against Australia due to a concentrated performance from Kane Williamson.

Australia started dominantly and had 47 on the board in 4.3 overs.

It is a match that should be remembered for the expert bowling of New Zealand's three principal bowlers: Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Daniel Vettori. They constantly had their foot on the necks of the Australian batsmen throughout the innings. Brendon McCullum called on Vettori and it was him that initially stemmed the flow of runs. He ended with figures of 10-0-41-2.

The key moment where Australia's innings turned was when Vettori bagged the wicket of Shane Watson with the last ball of his over and Southee pinned David Warner lbw in the first ball of the next. Australia were 80-3. The rot continued. Boult ripped out the middle order and Michael Clarke and Steve Smith were both sent back for a combined total of 16. Australia were now 104 for 7 in the 20th over. By the end of their innings they set New Zealand 152.

McCullum came into bat and went crazy, beginning a boundary fest of which we know he is capable. After McCullum got his half century in 24 balls he was caught by Mitchell Starc off a Pat Cummins delivery. This left Williamson to play slower and more methodically to ease, rather than blast, his side to the win.

The pressure began to mount, however, as New Zealand lost three wickets in two overs for the reward of 14 runs. This meant that Williamson had to stabilise as well as capitalise however Adam Milne and Southee hadn't read the script and were both dismissed for ducks. This meant that New Zealand had gone from 131-5 to 146-9. New Zealand had no wickets left and six runs left to get...and Williamson facing. Williamson blasted it and left Auckland in raptures.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Classic.

[GarlicJam]

Yes. An out-and-out exciting game. Cetainly not what was expected - the low scores. Also was a fantastic effort by Starc.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1908 Alf Gover was born.

Despite starting his county career with Essex he is best known for his early spell with Surrey, his home county.

A bowler known for his huge stature, he took a while to learn the intricacies needed to bag regular wickets. By 1933 who was an established member of the Surrey team and got 98 wickets that Summer. He was linked with a berth in the Test team due to his good form.

Gover made his debut for England against India at Old Trafford in 1936 but disappointed. The next Summer he claimed a record still unbroken today - 201 wickets in one county season.

Gover's fitness began to disintegrate as early as 1938 and after the war he was even less fit. Despite this, even in 1947 at the age of 39 he was still being linked to a recall to the English team. He retired in 1948.

Gover got heavily involved with coaching after his retirement. He set up his own cricket school in Wandsworth whose alumni include Ian Bishop, Viv Richards and Andy Roberts. He was involved with this school actively for the rest of his life, remaining principal until 1989. He was awarded an MBE for his services to cricket in 1998 aged 90.

He passed away aged 93 in 2001.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I would have bet Tich Freeman had that wickets in a season record.

[The Professor]

Just researched it....it appears that it is the record for a fast bowler.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1895 the Ashes series came to a thrilling end with the Fifth Test in Melbourne.

England had won the first two Tests but Australia had pulled it back in the next two. All was resting on the fifth and last Test.

It began with an even game between the two. The Australian openers of William Bruce and Harry Trott put up a bit of a fight but didn't push on to a big score. Trott would have been disappointed with his tally of 22.

Bruce did the most to be proud of with 42 scored. He formed a strong partnership with George Giffen with whom he scored 61 to frustrate the English bowlers. When Bruce was sent back it started a bit of a slide when Frank Iredale came in for a brief cameo of 8 and was sent back. This left Australia on 126-3.

Bobby Peel will be the bowler most proud of his output with the key wickets of Bruce and Giffen to his name.

The day ended with another spell of Australian dominance through the batting of Syd Gregory and Joe Darling. They both end with scores in the 40s and with the Australian team on 282/4.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1895 a hugely run heavy day between Australia and England saw a thrilling days cricket.

The pair that finished off yesterday on very similar scores both got out for very similar scores within two balls of each other; Syd Gregory for 70 and Joe Darling for 74. The last experienced batsman for the Australian side was John Lyons. When he went through two ineffective partnerships for the total of just 20 runs it looked like the tail would be Australia's undoing but Albert Trott, batting at 9, and Affie Jarvis, batting at 10, joined him in partnerships of 31 and 32 respectively. Even more frustratingly for England the last wicket partnership for Australia got the third highest total for any partnership in the innings - 47 between Jarvis and Tom McKibben. This late late show for Australia pushed them from a good score to a very good score of 414. Bobby Peel added a further two wickets to his two from yesterday to end the innings on a fourfer.

England's chase began poorly - after just 6 runs Bill Brockwell was out. He scored all six runs but got stumped by Jarvis. Then came a solid partnership between Albert Ward and Andrew Stoddart, with the latter being the principal runscorer. He cracked out 68 runs in no time at all and got out, yet again to a stumping. Ward went soon after with the score at 112-3. The day for England ended with two strong batsmen in full flow. Arthur MacLaren is on 40 and Peel is on 18 with England on 200-4.

[from_the_stands]

On this day five years ago...

http://www.espncricinfo.com/wctimeline/content/story/828663.html



A game for the ages, and a day to remember!

[The Professor]

On this day in 1895 there was a rest day between Australia and England so it gives us the opportunity to focus in on one of the England players - Jack Brown.

Brown was not an athlete by today's standards, nor was he an athlete for the standards of the 1880s. A smoker, a drinker and (what we would call these days) a partier. This was despite the fact he was diagnosed with a number of medical ailments. All in all Brown was a typical Northerner.

What does not make him a typical Northerner was the fact that he had friend's in high places. Having friend's that operated in royal circles he once had the King's personal doctor give him the once over.

Despite all these flaws he is the forgotten man of early English cricket - in statistics second only to WG Grace performing in both Test and County. From 1895 to 1903, he passed 1,000 runs each season in the domestic game.

The 1894-95 series was his first; and one of his very few.

Brown's life is a tragically short one, not helped by his excess, which may constitute to him not being heard of as much as some of his peers. He played only 8 test matches.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1895 an England collapse gives Australia the edge.

After the rest day, the middle order pair of Bobby Peel and Archie MacLaren started strongly. They ended up putting on 162 together for the fifth wicket. MacLaren stuck around far longer and got himself a score of 120 whilst Peel got 73. MacLaren got out comically by hitting his own wicket.

The rot set in before MacLaren's dismissal whereby he went through two partners for very little bother to the scorecard. When Peel got out the score was 328-6. When MacClaren got out the score was 364-8. The last three batsmen combined to score a mere 21 runs. England were all out for 385. A more leisurely pace of scoring for the Third Day.

The duo of George Giffen and Harry Trott got 8 of the ten wickets - Trott's economy was shocking but he bowled far more overs.

Australia had enough time in the day to build a decent foundation for their second innings and it is those two dynamic bowlers who are now at the crease for Australia. The dismissal of William Bruce for 11 meant that the day ends with Giffen and Trott on 14 and 37 respectively and their team on 69/1.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1895 Australia built a total of 296 to spell a close final innings for England.

Australia showed a fine display of solid batting down the order to put on a good total on the fourth day of the fifth Test.

The overnight pair did not last long with opener Harry Trott being sent back within ten runs of the morning session. George Giffen seized the impetus and became the more attacking of the batsmen, getting to his half century using two more partners on his way. He was dismissed by Tom Richardson, who had also claimed the scalp of Giffen. Australia were 148-4.

Joe Darling was the next incisive Australian batsmen; his stability potentially proving the calming influence to stop a middle order wobble. Around him partners were falling for low scores but he claimed the strike and proved strong. Within his four partnerships he scored 70% of the runs, eventually getting out for 50, leaving Australia at 219-8.

As in the first innings, the tail put up a spell of defiance with the last 3 batsmen putting on 48 runs but they were soon tidied up by Richardson who ended the innings with figures of 6/104.

England had enough time to start their second innings before the end of play and had enough time to lose one of their openers. Bill Brockwell was caught and bowled by Giffen. At the end of the day England were 28/1 and 268 runs behind Australia.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1895 heroics from Jack Brown allows England to claim the Ashes.

The morning began poorly for England. From the first ball of the day Andrew Stoddart was lbw to a delivery by Harry Trott. England were 28-2.

Jack Brown came in and started inauspiciously, getting a shot far too close to the fielder in his first over. Despite this he made 11 off George Giffen's next over, including successive fours. This began his barrage. He reached 40 in 18 minutes and 50 in 23. Albert Ward, seeing the story that was unfolding, allowed Brown to keep the strike with him only chipping in when needed. When the partnership century came up Brown had scored 64. At lunch England were 146 for 2 (Brown 80, Ward 41).

Brown's batting was rambunctious but not flawless. He could have been caught on 88 when he was dropped by George Giffen. Giffen had been flawless up to this point in the series. The Aussies were getting flustered. Brown was not. Brown's hundred is officially listed as taking 95 minutes.

Brown was finally out for 140 in two hours and 28 minutes. His partnership of 210 with Ward was the highest in Test cricket to that point, making England 238-3 and leaving a simple task for Archie MacLaren and Bobby Peel.

England had won the Ashes and it was, largely, down to one (large) man.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1882 the Third Test between Australia and England ended in an victory for the home team. This took them to a 2-0 lead over the travelling team in the series.

The day started with the tail end of the England second innings which got polished off in a mere 13 runs. This meant that England's death sentence was signed. Australia needed just 60 runs to win the Test.

Australia made a bit of a meal of this. The highest score from any Australia batsmen was Tom Horan's 16 - however 4 of them got out for single figures. They used up 4 batsmen before they got to the total.

Despite the damp squib of a day for the England team, their top player of the day was Ted Peate who got three of the Australian wickets. This took his tally for the match to 8 wickets overall. This was his best figures from his nine career tests.

This was scant consolation for England who faced an up hill challenge in the series.

[Arthur Crabtree]

The Aussies always did struggle with those small chases.