6 APRIL
Born on this day were:
Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar (1956-), Indian batsman and captain who is famous for being the first to score three consecutive Test centuries at Lord’s against England; and
Mudassar Nazar (1956-), Pakistani batsman who formed Pakistan’s finest opening partnership with Mohsin Khan in the 1970s and 1980s and also has the dubious distinction of scoring the slowest hundred in Test history (557 minutes) against England at Lahore in 1977-78. (Mudassar’s father, Nazar Mohammad, also played for Pakistan.)
In 1972 Alvin Kallicharran made his Test debut for West Indies against New Zealand at Georgetown and scored a fluent 100 not out two days later. Exactly a year later, in 1973, Clive Lloyd scored 178 against Australia at the same venue to record his highest Test innings in the Carribbean. He could not prevent defeat by ten wickets after West Indies were skittled for just 109 in their second innings.
In 1984 the first ever ODI match was played at Sharjah – between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the inaugural Asia Cup. Sri Lanka won by five wickets. Roy Dias of Sri Lanka scored 57, the first half-century in a ODI at Sharjah. In 1986 Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by five wickets to win the second Asia Cup tournament at Colombo.
In 1988 Imran Khan’s Pakistan, became the first visiting team to win a test in the Caribbean after ten years when they beat West Indies by nine wickets in the first at Guyana. There were a staggering 71 extras – a Test record. It was also Curtly Ambrose’s Test debut.
In 1991 prolific Australian batsman William ‘Bill’ Ponsford , who played in 29 Tests from 1924 to 1934 scoring 2,122 runs at an average of 48.23 died, aged 90. He was the only batsman to score two quadruple centuries in first-class cricket till Brian Lara scored 400 not out against England in April 2004.
In 1995 pace bowler Saiful Islam claimed 4 for 36 against Sri Lanka at Sharjah, which remain the best bowling figures for Bangladesh in ODIs.
In 2001 Sachin Tendulkar took his 100th ODI wicket in the fifth ODI match against Australia, at Margoa. He became the first player to achieve the double of 10,000 runs and 100 wickets in ODIs.
In 2002 Australia recorded what was then the highest total by a team batting second in a ODI. They scored 330 runs in reply to South Africa’s mammoth target of 326 for 3 in the sixth ODI at St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth. The previous highest at the time was 316 by both India and Australia against Pakistan.
