Born on this day were:
Clive Lloyd (1944-), West Indian batsman and captain who was the first West Indian to play 100 Tests and led the West Indies to two consecutive World Cup victories;
Javagal Srinath (1969-), Indian fast bowler and now an ICC match referee who was the spearhead of the Indian pace attack after Kapil Dev and who took 236 Test wickets and claimed 315 ODI victims in a career lasting 13 years; and
Willie Watson (1965-), New Zealand pace bowler.
In 1769 the first stroke-by-stroke account of a cricket match was recorded when the Duke of Dorset's XI played Wrotham. The scorecard included the first known century, 107 by John Minshull.
In 1888 England beat Australia by an innings and 21 runs at Old Trafford at 1.55 p.m. on this the second day of the third Test. This remains the shortest Test match in which there was a result.
In 1968 Gary Sobers while playing for Nottinghamshire hit Malcolm Nash of Glamorgan for six sixes in one over, becoming the first man to score 36 runs in a first class over. Ravi Shastri repeated the feat for Bombay against Baroda in a Ranji Trophy match. ('I suppose I can gain some consolation from the fact that my name will be permanently in the record books' – Malcolm Nash.)
In 1981 Ian Botham took his 200th Test wicket – against Australia at The Oval. He was the youngest man to do so, and in the shortest time and in the fewest number of balls (9,672).
Two debuts tons (for the same score) today: In 1981 Dirk Wellham scored 103 in the second innings against England at The Oval. (Wellham was the only man to captain three Australian states – New South Wales, Tasmania and Queensland.) In 2001 Thilan Samaraweera of Sri Lanka made an unbeaten 103 in the third Test against India at Colombo.
In 1998 Muttiah Muralitharan took 16 for 220 in the one-off Test against England at The Oval. Sri Lanka thrashed England by ten wickets to register their Test win in England. This is the fifth best Test analysis ever.
