On This Day

[The Professor]

On this day in 1976 Australian bowler Brett lee was born. What better time to share his top four moments.

1 Lee's last over in his career; Sydney Sixers v Perth Scorchers in 2015

Not the result that Lee would have been used to but certainly a hell of a way to go. Perth Scorchers needed 8 runs in 6 balls when Lee got the ball and it looked to be getting away from him until the dismissal of both Nathan Coulter-Nile and Sam Whiteman. Peth needed one run from one ball and almost didn't get there through a run out. Lee ended on the losing side but what a final over.

2. 5-47 on debut v India in 1999

Lee started as he meant to go on when he washanded his debut on Boxing Day 1999. He got a wicket in his first over and then went on to claim five wickets. His bowling action was already on point and he immediately cemented his name in what was already such a strong Australian team.

3.. - 5-27 v India in 2000

Lee was an exciting new talent at this stage and ran through the middle order in this game. Regularly knocking India over with pace, Lee had no qualms with what was a very poor Indian middle order. Great technique from the youngster.

4. 5-30 v England in 2003

Some brilliant combative bowling from Lee throughout this tournament saw him return at five crucial times to dismantle England. First seeing off openers Marcus Trescothick (0) and Nick Knight (5) - the exact same result as happened in the previous games. He was then decisive towards the end getting Andrew Flintoff, Ian Blackwell and Andrew Caddick. A great game for Australia.

5. 5-49 v England in 2009

One of Lee’s best fivefers was his last in ODI cricket against the old enemy at Lords. By this time he was an idol to the Australian team and he showed why with some beautiful deliveries that saw off Joe Denly, Matt Prior, Luke Wright, Stuart borad and Adil Rashid.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2015 India wrap up the First Test against South Africa in three days.

Throughout the Test both teams have been victims of epic collapses and the last day was all square on that front.

The first collapse of the day came from India. Starting the day on 125/2, India lost Chetsehwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane for just three runs. With the exception of a combative Wriddhimam Saha, the rest of the tail showed nothing of note and India were all out for 200. Imran Tahir got three wickets to make his total 4-48 in the innings.

Chasing 235, South Africa’s collapse started as early as batsmen two and three; Vernon Philander and Faf du Plessis both going for a solitary run, both victims of spin. Soon enough Amla joined them in the pavilion without bothering the scorers. South Africa were 10-3. From there the game was dead. In just the same way as India’s innings were held together by Saha; Stiaan van Zyl was the only batsmen to get over 15 runs for South Africa. Spin was king with Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin getting 8 wickets between them. South Africa could only muster 109 runs which meant India won by 108.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1856 Middlesex and Yorkshire's John Rawlin was born.

Most known as a bowler, Rawlin could also do bits with the bat.

His career was rather a strange one as he flitted between playing and administrative roles in cricket. He played for Yorkshire between 1880-1885. He then was part of the ground staff at the MCC between 1887-1911 - two years into this spell he began turning out for Middlesex - for whom he would go on to play for a decade.

Middlesex was where he started to hit form with his bowling. In his Middlesex career he claimed 631 wickets; five times getting an 8-fer.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2011 a congruence of numbers in a match between Australia and South Africa links back to a cricketing superstition.

At 11.11 on this day South Africa needed 111 runs to win. This meant that the scoreboard read: 11:11, 11/11, 111 runs to win. At this point, the uninitiated may have been confused at the sight of the umpire and the majority of the crowd lifting their leg in the air. This links to a tradition of umpire David Shepherd's habit of raising his leg from the ground on the score 111 due to its superstitious nature in cricket.

Nobody really knows the route of this tradition. Some say it is because the score looks a wicket with no bails. Others say that bad things happen on this score but there is no firm foundation for this.

[sussexpob]

I was under the belief that it was supposed to reference Horatio Nelson's bad luck..... he lost one arm, one leg and his one life.... 111... and hence having all three numbers together was seen as lucky in the navy.

[Aidan11]

I was under the belief that it was supposed to reference Horatio Nelson's bad luck..... he lost one arm, one leg and his one life.... 111... and hence having all three numbers together was seen as lucky in the navy.

It is....hence the reference to the scoreboard showing 111 as "being on Nelson".

[The Professor]

On this day in 1873 Gloucestershire's William Hemingway was born.

Making his debut in 1893, Hemingway went on to be a fixture in the Gloucestershire team for the next seven years.

In his 70 matches he scored one less than two thousand runs at an average of 17.08. His high score was 104 against his old team, Cambridge University.

[Dr Cricket]

nothing today 365.

[The Professor]

Whoops.....put it on my blog but forgot to copy it here

[The Professor]

On this day in 2014 Rohit Sharma puts Sri Lanka to bed singlehandedly.

In what was Sharma's first game in any format for ten weeks, Sharma showed the cricketing world what they had been missing. He reached his 100 in 100 balls but then went on to get another 164 and ended up with a strike rate of 152.6. His innings included 33 fours and 9 sixes and a huge array of ludicrous shots that left Sri Lanka reeling. Sri Lanka had chances to get Sharma - first of all on four...which must be galling.

The rest of the batsmen pale in comparison but Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli also contributed.

The pasting began from the outset - Rahane knocked Nuwan Kulasekara for 14 runs in the very first over. Things didn't get much better from there.

Kohli assisted Sharma in a 202 run partnership - of which Kohli only got 66 before being run out.

Sharma's innings included the most fours scored in a ODI match and added to his growing tally of scores of over two hundred in ODIs.

The Sri Lankan chase was almost an afterthought. Kusal Perera was out for a duck. Dinesh Chandimal and Mahela Jayawardene got a combined eleven runs. Tillakaratne Dilshan looked awkward but managed 34. When he fell Sri Lanka were 48-4.

Angelo Matthews and Lahiru Thirmanne's 118 run partnership merely gave the crowd the chance to watch a bit more cricket but the wheels had come off the Sri Lankan innings.

India won by 153 runs. The entire Sri Lankan team had scored 13 runs less than Sharma had managed in his own.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Cheers 365.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2014 a hard fought battle between Australia and South Africa came down to a battle of the captains.

South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first.

David Warner and Aaron Finch began explosively, the former getting 46 from 49 with the latter getting 35 from 40. A little tumble of wickets saw the two openers and Michael Clarke gone within 18 runs.

While South Africa's bowlers were in good form - their fielders let them down. George Bailey, who went on to score 70, was dropped twice on the score of two. That could have changed the whole complexion of the game - especially when it took Bailey a while to warm to his game; he only scored his first boundary for his fiftieth shot and 69 deliveries to get to 50. He finally got out to Dale Steyn for 70.

Matthew Wade and Glenn Maxwell put up a bit of a late surge, rasping a collective 64 to push up Australis's total to the verge of unobtainable at 300.

The South African chase began poorly with Mitchell Starc accounting for openers Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla for just 18 runs. Faf du Plessis and Farhaan Behardien tried to mount a comeback but both went when set. It was David Miller and captain AB de Villiers who put South Africa back in the hunt with an 126 run partnership for the 5th wicket. De Villiers was the most impressive and showed his full range of shots.

When Miller was caught by Mitchell Marsh off the bowling of Nathan Coulter-Nile for 65 the wheels came off again with Ryan McLaren and Vernon Philander going for a combined run total of 1. The loss of de Villiers was the final nail in the coffin of South Africa's monumental chase - run out in a bit of confusion with Dale Steyn, who is not the batsman to sacrifice yourself for. South Africa ended a tantalising 32 runs off the chase.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1969 the second Test between India and Australia began.

A dramatically different Indian team won the toss and chose to bat on the first day of this Test. Two of the established members of the team opened for India and put 111 on. Farokh Engineer played dynamically and quickly and got out just before lunch to a caught and bowled from Keith Stackpole for 77. Ashok Mankad proved the bridge after lunch alongside Ajit Wadekar - he was playing less aggressively but lasted far longer.

Inida went through a sticky spot when Wadekar, Mankad and debutant Gundappa Viswanath went within 4 runs of each other. This left India 171-4.

Ashok Gandotra looked like he was the man to lift India but, after a promising start, was out for 13. This could have all gone even worse when Nawab of Pataudi was nearly caught by Ian Redpath but he managed to consolidate alongside Eknath Solkar to see out the day. They both stand at stumps; on 36 and 15 respectively and their team on 237-5.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1969 Australia are further frustrated by India.

Australia got themselves off to a good start when Graham McKenzie dismissed Nawab of Pataudi, the largest established batsman, in the opening overs. This did not provide the collapse Australa would have hoped. Instead, Eknath Solkar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan put on a partnership of 46 for the seventh wicket and Subrata Guha and Erapalli Prasanna added 46 for the seventh wicket. Eventually, Ashley Mallett and Alan Connolly combined to see off the tail but by that time they had swelled their total to 320.

India began Australia's innings in a similarly dominant position. By the end of the day the three most dangerous batsmen, Keith Stackpole, Bill Lawry and Ian Chappell, had all been sent back for not a lot. The day ended with Doug Walters on 53 and Ian Redpath on 4. Australia were on 105/3 - 215 runs behind India.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1969 there was a rest day between India and Australia which gives us a chance to see what was going on just off the cricket field.

The series was an entertaining one but also one tainted with violence.

In a time of political unrest for India the early signs were not good. The previous Test series between India and New Zealand had seen a Test move location due to rioting and the last Test was interrupted by rioting that was made worse by heavy handed measures by the police.

The first incident of violence in the matches against Australia came when Indian favourite Venkat was wrongly dismissed by the umpire. Stands were set alight and the fielders on the outfield were being pelted with bottles and coins. The match continued as the police tried to deal with the events. Australia finished the game but, under police advice, were told to stay at the wicket as they could not guarantee their safety. When they made their way to the dressing room their ordeal was not over. They were barricaded in by Indian fans who smashed the windows and tried to gain access to the dressing room. Many injuries were sustained not least to John Gleason who took a bottle to the head.

During this Test, the Australians were constantly escorted by armed police.