History of September 5

5 SEPTEMBER

Born on this day were:

John Wisden (1826-84), English right-hand batsman and slow underarm bowler whose ten wickets in an innings, all bowled, is still the only such instance in a first-class match and who later achieved everlasting fame as the originator of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack;

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975), Indian philosopher and statesman who in the 1930s would sneak off from his post as Spaulding Professor of Eastern Religions at Oxford to watch C.K.Nayudu bat at Lord's and who as President of India inserted the names of C.K. Nayudu and Mushtaq Ali into those receiving India's highest civilian awards;

Archie Jackson (1909-33), brilliant Australian batsman who averaged 47.40 in eight matches before dying prematurely of tuberculosis (He died on the day Australia lost the Ashes to Jardine's 'Bodyline' team);

Phiroz Edulji Palia (1910-81), left-hand batsman and useful slow bowler whose two Tests for India were both at Lord's, four years apart (in 1932 and 36) and who was prominent in the Quadrangular Tournament in Bombay for the Parsees;

Colin 'Tich' Wesley (1937-), South African batsman who is best remembered for achieving the rare feat of suffering a 'king pair' in a Test match (Brian Statham dismissed him twice for 0 at Trent Bridge);

Bruce Yardley (1947-), Australian off-spinner who took 126 Test wickets in 33 matches and who with Bruce Reid is the only other bowler to take 100 wickets for Australia without playing a Test in England;

Mark Ramprakash (1969-), English batsman whose consistent performance in domestic cricket was not reflected in his chequered career (52 Tests and 2,350 runs) for his country;

Adam Hollioake (1971-), former Surrey captain and English batsman;

Guy Whittall (1972-), Zimbabwe batsman; and

Rawl Lewis (1974-), West Indian leg-spinner who had the dubious distinction of being the most expensive bowler in Test cricket till 2007 (126.3 overs, 388 runs and one wicket), but three wickets in his last Test (against South Africa at Cape Town in January 2008) ‘deprived’ him of his world record.

A unique coincidence in ODIs took place today: In 1999 S. Ramesh and W.W. Hinds both took a wicket with their first ball in ODI cricket in the match between India and the West Indies at the Kallang Ground, Singapore. In the third match of the Coca-Cola Singapore Challenge, Ramesh claimed N.A.M. McLean and Hinds M.S.K. Prasad as his first victim. This was the first instance of two players performing this feat in the same match. It was Hinds' debut in ODIs, and the first time Ramesh bowled in a ODI, having made his debut earlier.

In 2002 Sachin Tendulkar played in his 100th Test when he appeared for India in the fourth Test at The Oval. At 29 years 134 days he became the youngest player to achieve this feat. The previous record was held by Kapil Dev who was 30 years 313 days when he appeared in his 100th Test in 1989, which incidentally was Tendulkar's first Test match. The drawn Test is best remembered for Michael Vaughan's 195 and Rahul Dravid's 217. Vaughan's 195 came close on the heels of his 197 in the second Test at Nottingham making him the first player after Graham Gooch to pass 175 twice in the same month. He did it twice more (177 and 183) at Adelaide and Sydney in 2002-03.

In 2003 Shaun Pollock became the second South African (after Allan Donald) to take 300 Test wickets when he had Michael Vaughan caught by Herschelle Gibbs in the fifth Test at The Oval.