Born on this day were:
Ernest Austin 'Barberton' Halliwell (1864-1919), South African wicket-keeper credited with introducing the habit of putting raw steak in his gloves to protect the hands;
George Hirst (1871-1954), English all-rounder who is considered one of the greatest of all time (He completed a unique double of 2,000 runs and 200 wickets in 1906, and he is also the only player to achieve two hundreds and two five-wicket hauls in the same first-class match);
Victor York Richardson (1894-1969), Australian batsman and captain who captained Australia to victory in the 1935-36 series in South Africa (at Durban, in his final Test, he held five catches in an innings, a world record that had been another Test best until one of his own grandsons Greg Chappell bettered it by taking seven catches against England, at Perth in 1974-75);
Kevin Curran (1959-), Zimbabwe all-rounder;
Wavell Hinds (1976-), West Indian batsman; and
Farveez Maharood (1984-), Sri Lankan all-rounder.
In 1859 George Parr's first English team to tour set sail from Liverpool, bound for North America and Canada. The side included John Wisden, John Lillywhite, H.H. Stephenson and Julius Caesar.
In 1956 C.B. Fry, Ranji's Sussex partner died, aged 84. He was probably the greatest all-rounder of his or any generation. A brilliant scholar, he was an accomplished performer in almost every branch of outdoor sport. He captained England in Test matches and also played Association Football for England against Ireland in 1901. He was at full-back for Southampton in the FA Cup Final of 1902 and his long jump record of 23 feet 5 inches set in 1892 stood for 21 years.
In 1963 the inaugural Gillette Cup final was also the first major one-day final to be played at Lord's. Sussex beat Worcestershire by 14 runs.
In 2001 Marvan Atapattu (201) became the first Test player to get into the score books as 'retired out' in the second match of the Asian Test Championship against Bangladesh at Colombo. Mahela Jayawardene's innings met a similar end when he too was 'retired out' on 150. Sri Lanka went on to make 555 for 5 and won by an innings and 137 runs. On the same day Gary Kirsten's double hundred (202 not out) in the first Test against Zimbabwe at Harare made him the first South African to reach 5,000 runs.
