On This Day

[The Professor]

On this day in 1958 Pakistan's Tauseef Ahmed was born.

Tauseef was a player that emerged out of nowhere in the 1980s to end up training with the Pakistan National Team. From this humble background Tauseef ended up with stunning Test figures. In his 34 Tests he picked up 94 wickets at an average of 31.72 and an economy of 2.27.

He formed a deadly combination alongside Abdul Qadir that put many teams to the sword. This being said, however, one of his most notable performances came after the dropping of Qadir. In 1987 against India, Tauseef picked up 5-54 in the first innings and got another three in the second to give Pakistan a 1-0 lead against the home favourites.

Another notable performance came the following year when Australia toured Pakistan. This time it was Tauseef's economy that was brought to the fore. His figures in the first Test after the first innings were 26-15-28-1 and 47.4-28-44-3 in the second.

Tauseef also showed his acumen in ODI cricket. He got 55 wickets in 70 games.

Tauseef is now a bowling coach for young Cricketers.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2001 Herschelle Hibbs was accused of smoking marijuana after a key South African victory.

Gibbs was discovered smoking the illegal substance alongside physiotherapist Craig Smith and team mates Roger Telemachus, Paul Adams, Justin Kemp and Andre Nel. All received fines but none faced bans.

This was not Gibbs’ first brush with disciplinary problems. As far back as 2000 he was banned for three games due to his breaching of curfew rules before a game against Australia. In the same year he was embroiled in the Hansie Cronje betting scam; his punishment for this was a six month ban.

Nor would this be the last time Gibbs found himself at the wrong end of media attention. In 2008 he was caught drink-driving and was dropped from a series against Bangladesh for, yet again, breaking curfew. Despite all this, his most detestable act was bragging about having never read a book in his life.

Despite the years of controversy, Gibbs still ended his career with 6167 Test runs and 8094 in ODIs.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1845 Dennison's Cricketers' Companion was launched.

The book was overseen by William Dennison and published by the MCC.

The object of this companion was to "present to the admirers and followers of the most noble and healthful of England's sports, cricket, a collection of all the best matches which were played in the past season at Lord's and in every part of the United Kingdom, together with other information of interest, and in some instances necessary, to the accomplished player as well as to the inexperienced learner."

The first edition contained the scores of nearly 200 matches, a minute review of the progress of the game in the Summer of 1844, a list of the various noblemen by whom clubs are either supported or patronised and the remarks of Mr Baron Alderson upon the beneficial operation of such a document. Other highlights included some criticism on the "Wild and reckless" system of bowling and average tables detailing the top 120 batsmen, bowlers and wicketkeepers.

The companion was published every year until 1847.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1872....no play was possible in a game between MCC and Ground and Surrey.

This may be the oddest On This Day I have done but trust me....tomorrow's will be worth a washed out blog.

[The Professor]

On this day the MCC face a total drubbing at the hands of Surrey.

No play was possible until after an early lunch was taken. Within an hour the MCC would have wished that no play was possible at all.

In the first over James Southerton got W.G. Grace lbw for 0. In the second over John Smith also fell for a duck off the bowling of William Marten. The next over was a maiden but Marten then returned in the fourth over to take the wicket of Charles Coote and then again in the sixth to get Alfred Shaw and Denzil Onslow all for 0. After a further two maiden overs, Southerton then got a brace, claiming Charles Brune and Thomas Hearne for 0. At the end of the 9th over the score read 0-7.

In the tenth over Arthur Beecher got two to register the MCC's first runs however the run of ducks did not stop there as his partner, Samuel Biddulph, got out without bothering the scorers. MCC; 2-8.

Marten returned for Beecher after he had scored a nosebleed ensuing 8 runs. The score now 8-9.

The last wicket partnership between Arnold Rylott and George Howitt was worth 8 runs before Marten bowled the latter. The MCC ended all out for 16 runs after 45 minutes of batting.

Surrey did not find the batting easygoing but only one of their batsmen did not score compared to the 8 for MCC. The highest score for Surrey came off Ted Pooley's 12 but there were no partnerships that crept in to double figures as Surrey went to 49 all out - a lead of 33. George Howitt's 4-6 were some might impressive figures. The time at the end of the Surrey innings was half past two.

The MCC put up a much better show than the two innings that went previously. The opening stand between Grace and Smith was worth 21 - 2 more runs than the entire total of their first innings. After they were dismissed for 11 and 19 respectively, only Onslow broke a string of single figure scores with his score of 10. Three players scored a duck in the second innings but it was only Hearne that got a brace as it was Rylott and Howitt that got out for nought this time out. Beecher was the only member of the MCC team to survive the day without a duck. It was Southerton's turn to get the best figures for Surrey as he added 7-38 to his 4-5 in the first innings. MCC's second innings was worth 71 - giving them a lead of 38. It was now half five.

It was Richard Humphrey and Pooley who got Surrey over the line but they lost 5 wickets in what should have been quite an easy chase. Pooley fell on 12 with his team needing a mere two more runs but they lost a further 2 batsmen in the course of eating in to that deficit. A suitably chaotic end to a chaotic day.

Surrey had won by 5 wickets.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe spent the rain day in the pub.The batters anyway.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1911 Sussex have the edge over Nottinghamshire on Day One.

Nottinghamshire started poorly with the early loss of James Iremonger but the pair of Arthur Jones and George Gunn put that right with a partnership worth 102 that consumed the whole of the morning session and went into the afternoon session.

After Jones was dismissed by George Cox for 57, Gunn lost Joe Hardstaff but was beginning to put on a good partnership with his brother John when he was dismissed on 90. John Gunn then put on the last partnership of any worth for Nottinghamshire alongside Wilfred Payton. Once they were dismissed, Nottinghamshire's tail had very little to offer and the team were all out for 238. Cox had the best figures for Sussex with 3-58.

Sussex were able to start their second innings and did so brightly. The first two partnerships were worth half centuries with Joe Vine's 77 helping Robert Relf (42) and Reginald Heygate (32) to build up the score. Cox also showed his skills with the bat but was out in the last over of the day leaving Sussex on 188-4 - 54 behind Nottinghamshire.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1911 Sussex ground themselves into form to take the advantage over Nottinghamshire.

Sussex looked like they might have been going into a bit of a spiral on Day Two after they lost both Albert Relf and Claud Tudor cheaply. A score of 81 from Ernest Killick in tandem with George Leach (51) and Charles Smith (33) pushed Sussex's total to an impressive 414 all out; a lead of 176.

Nottinghamshire needed a good reply in order to challenge and got off badly with a duck from one of their openers - this time Arthur Jones. James Iremonger pulled back his poor score in the first innings by contributing to a partnership of 108 alongside George Gunn. When Gunn was out to Robert Relf, a slew of wickets fell - including the wicket of Iremonger. James Gunn and Garnet Lee got them through to stumps but did not look impressive. At stumps the score was 175-6 with Sussex claiming a One run lead and Nottinghamshire looking in a precarious position.

[The Professor]

On this day Nottinghamshire pull victory out of the jaws of defeat thanks to colossal innings from Ted Alletson.

Alletson came on early on the third day with Nottinghamshire a mere nine runs ahead and the game seeming like it was only reaching one logical conclusion. Alletson batted on until lunch making an impressive 47 but had lost Garnet Lee and Thomas Oates. At the lunch break the score was 260-9.

Alletson must have had a very good lunch as his performance after the break is something that legends are made of. Over the course of the next 65 balls, Nottinghamshire scored 152 runs. Alletson scored 142 off 51 with eight sixes and eighteen fours. The tailender had transformed Nottinghamshire from a team who had no chance with a lead of nine to a team into a team who had a lead of 236 - all this in the blink of an eye. A close analysis of this innings shows just how devastating an effect Alletson had. In one five over spell he scored 97 runs. He was the last man out on 189.

This left Nottinghamshire needing 236 runs in three and a quarter hours to seal a victory that looked almost certain at the start of the day. They failed and had to settle for the draw. The opening pair of Robert Relf and Joe Vine made a decent fist of it with their partnership worth 90 but once that was broken, through William Riley's dismissal of Vine, the pace of the chase died off. The game petered out to something of an anticlimax after the heroics of the Nottinghamshire rear order and Sussex survived with two batsmen to spare.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1911 Mitcham Cricket Pavilion was opened.

Mitcham Cricket Club, many believe, is the oldest Cricket Club in the world with its first game played in 1685 but in 1911 it gained a new feature with the official opening of the new Pavilion. The President's wife, Mrs G.J. Poston did the honours.

The Pavillion was opened before a game where Mitcham faced off against a team made up by the Honourable Artillery Company. Suitably Mitcham won with Hussey topscoring with 68. It was noted that the Artillery Company put up a good fight with two players scoring over 40.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1999 India hand Zimbabwe victory in World Cup.

India created a Rod for their own back with some very wasteful bowling. The 51 extras that they incurred is still the highest in any World Cup game and the extras column was the second highest scorer for Zimbabwe after Andy Flower's 68. Javagal Srinath was the Indian bowler most likely to have hung his head in shame as he bowled five no-balls and a wide but Venkatesh Prasad wasn't far behind with one no-ball but 4 wides. As if this were not bad enough the over rate was so slow that the Indian chase was docked by four overs.

Aside from the extras and the contribution of Andy and Grant Flower (45) no Zimbabwean batsmen seemed to threaten the Indian bowlers as much as they threatened themselves.

India's chase was a formidable looking 253. The poor decision-making evidenced in their bowling seemed to follow on into their batting. Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Azharuddin were all out for few runs and left India at 56-3. It was Sadagoppan Ramesh who forced the issue and the score up respectively. He had soon passed his half century and was India's great hope.

With Ramesh on the warpath India seemed unstoppable. But this was a self destructive India who seemed to be actively derailing themselves. As soon as Ramesh passed his half century his style of play changed and he suffered a number of near misses before eventually holing out to Grant Flower.

Robin Singh took over scoring duties from Ramesh and was aided by Ajay Jadeja until he was sent back lbw by Heath Streak for 43 - the third wicket for Streak.

India needed 80 runs from 82 balls with five more batsmen. Manageable. The next man down came a mere run later when Ajit Agarkar was needlessly run out but the partnership of Singh and Nayan Mongia then put on 44 in 7.3 overs and helped India over the two hundred mark. Victory seemed assured.

The asking rate was creeping up and Mongia felt this most keenly when he tried to push on and fell in the 40th over for 28. Singh was now the last established batsman but Javagal Srinath started brightly. With two overs left India needed nine runs and had two more batsmen.

With ten balls left, Singh abandoned the cause when he was dismissed by Henry Olonga on 35. Only bowlers left. Anil Kumble was next to take guard. His first delivery yielded a single. 6 off 9.

The next ball was dispatched by Srinath and the batsmen set off for a single. Grant Flower overthrew and two runs were executed. 4 needed off 8.

The temptation proved too much for Srinath who tried to dispatch the next delivery for four....and was bowled by Olonga on 18.

No one would call Venkatesh Prasad a batsman but yet the game rested on him. It was not to be his day. Olonga's next delivery yielded an lbw, a second successive wicket and a Zimbabwe victory.

[The Professor]

On this day in 2014 Sri Lanka win their first game without Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakara as they defeat England.

A partnership worth 54 between Kithuruwan Vithanage (38) and Lahiru Thirimanne (40) set Sri Lanka on their way to a decent total. The former looked particularly impressive in the Sangakara position whilst the latter was starting to look fluid when he holed out off the bowling of James Tredwell.

Thisara Perera did the most damage for Sri Lanka with the bat. He was given a life on 20 when he was dropped by Michael Carberry. He eventually was removed one run short of his half century when run out by Harry Gurney. Gurney was the best bowler on the night too, ending with two wickets. Sri Lanka batted hard down the order and ended up on 183.

Alex Hales, often seen as the talisman for England, was sluggish in the opening overs but began to move up the gears. Carberry had initially looked more impressive but was out for 7. It began a string of players being dismissed cheaply, culminating in Eoin Morgan's dismissal, leaving England 85-4.

England attempted to fight back from here but when Hales was dismissed on 66, Ravi Bopara and Chris Jordan came together and put on 19 but it was too little too late. They eventually reached 174.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1919 honours are even between Somerset and Sussex on Day One.

Somerset batted first and got off to a good start with a partnership of 56 between the Rippon twins. Geoffrey was the first out when he was sent back by George Stannard. Dudley, the other twin, soldiered on and built up a good score of 60 despite a lack of support from the other batsmen. When he fell, the scoring duties were handed to Phillip Hope who combined with Jimmy Bridges for a sixth wicket partnership worth 41 which further pushed the Somerset total up. Once John Vincett accounted for the pair of them, Somerset had little else to offer. Their total was 243. George Cox was the best of the Sussex bowlers for his 5-51.

Sussex managed to start their reply and would have been disappointed for Keith Wilson to have walked back with only four runs to his name. Herbert Wilson combined with Thomas Bourdillon for a partnership of 39 before Bridges dismissed the latter. Herbert was then joined by, the confusingly named, Arthur Somerset who saw them through to stumps. Sussex closed on 100-2, 143 behind Somerset.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1919 a strange event sees a tied game between Somerset and Sussex.

The overnight pair of Herbert Wilson and Arthur Somerset put on a bit of a fight at the start of the second day but were sent back in quick succession. The rest of the batsmen did not offer much, with the exception of Maurice Tate who put on a handy 69, batting at number eight. Harold Heygate batted at number eleven and was dismissed for a duck. The Sussex innings drew to a close with the visiting side a mere 1 run behind Somerset.

Sussex took to the field without Heygate for the second Sussex innings due to pain caused from rheumatism. Somerset's second innings was characterised by poor batting and low scores. The first three Somerset batsmen, who had put on 104 together in the first innings, got a combined total of 16 with George Cox dismissing all three. From there, things got marginally better with a succession of batsmen getting scores in the double figures but the top score was Jimmy Bridges' 14. Somerset could only manage 103 in reply with Cox getting four wickets and taking bragging rights.

Sussex would have felt in pole position chasing 105 and Wilson batted with great character from the off...the problem was that his supporting cast did not support him. It was not until his partnership with Henry Roberts for the seventh wicket that he got a partner with whom he shared more than a dozen runs. When Roberts fell for 28 off Dudley Rippon, Tate attempted to put up a bit of a fight and was then gone for 11 off the bowling of Bridges.

When George Stannard and George Cox, batting at nine and ten, were dismissed for ducks, the scores were tied and Somerset celebrated a drawn game that they looked to have been losing. But then came the twist. Heygate, whose last contribution to the match had been at the end of the first innings, was asked if he wanted to bat. Despite being dressed in regular clothes he agreed. As he made his way rheumatically around the dressing room, the Somerset captain appealed for dismissal, citing Law 45, stating that a batsman must be at the crease within two minutes of the previous batsman leaving.

When Heygate emerged from the pavilion he was informed that he had already been given out and the game called as a tie. Gallingly this proved to be Heygate's last game.

[The Professor]

On this day in 1918 England and Middlesex's Denis Compton was born.

Compton was born in London and became affiliated with Middlesex from a young age after turning out for his father's team at 12. After joining Middlesex he also held down a promising football career, representing Arsenal. At nineteen years old he made his debut for England against New Zealand and is still the third youngest England player on debut. He scored 65 before being run out.

Compton lost five years of his Prime to war but was young enough to be able to come back after the conflict to pick up the bat again. In fact, In the first season of County Cricket after the war he was the countries top run scorer.

Compton's defining series came in the 1946-7 Ashes tour where his performances with the bat were par excellence. Off the back of a spectacular season for Middlesex, Compton was a shoe in for a place in the England team. He went on to score a century in each innings of the Adelaide Test and was the stand out performer in each Test.

This trend continued in the following Ashes, where Compton was still the star man. Later that year, in a warm up game against North-Eastern Transvaal he scored, what is still, the fastest ever triple hundred in terms of time at the crease. Despite this rip roaring start, he went on to average just 7.57 in the series.

Compton was cricket's first ever superstar. He was offered £2000 a week by the News of the World for a weekly column and became affiliated with Brylcreem.

From the early 1950s, age and injury effected his output but still would crop up with huge amounts of runs from time to time for both England and Middlesex.

Compton finished his cricket career after playing 78 Test matches with 17 centuries at an average of 50.06. In all first class cricket he scored 123 centuries. Whilst most often remembered as a batsman he also got 622 wickets. Throughout his career he still turned out for Arsenal, his last appearance being as late as 1950. He has made 54 appearances for the North London club.

After retiring he became a sports journalist and public speaker.