22 SEPTEMBER
Born on this day were:
Sorabji Colah (1902-50), Indian batsman who played in India’s first two Tests;
Martin Crowe (1962-), outstanding New Zealand batsman whose highest score of 299 against Sri Lanka in 1990-91 is his country’s highest and during which he added a record 467 (in first-class cricket) with Andrew Jones for the third wicket;
Chris Matthews (1962-), Australian left-arm pace bowler;
Thilan Samaraweera (1976-), Sri Lankan all-rounder, who scored a century on Test debut in 2001 and took a bullet in the leg during the Lahore terror attack on Sri Lankan team bus in 2009; and
Mehrab Hossain (1978-), Bangladeshi Test opening batsman.
In 1859 the first English tourists arrived in Quebec for their tour of Canada and the United States.
In 1880, GF Grace died of pneumonia at Basingstoke, aged 29. He was the youngest of the three Test-playing Grace brothers and had played only two weeks earlier in the first Test on English soil, the one-off Test against Australia at The Oval.
In 1982 Duleep Mendis completed twin tons for Sri Lanka against India in the one-off Test at Madras. He scored 105 in both the innings – the only instance when a batsman has returned identical scores after scoring more than a hundred runs in each innings. The match also produced a record aggregate of 1,441 for any Test in India with Sunil Gavaskar (155) getting his 25th century.
In 1986 the second tied Test in history took place in Madras when Greg Matthews trapped Maninder Singh with the penultimate delivery of the match. The last day had begun with Allan Border declaring and setting India 348 to win in a minimum of 87 overs. With just 18 needed from five overs Ray Bright struck in the next over and suddenly all four results were possible. When Shivlal Yadav thrashed Matthews for six before being bowled by Bright, four were needed with eight balls remaining. Maninder Singh, played out Bright’s over, leaving Ravi Shastri on strike for the final over. He took two from the second ball and a single off the third. It meant India could not lose but it also gave Matthews three strikes at Maninder. Maninder fell lbw on the second and Test cricket’s second tie was the result. It was also Gavaskar’s 100th consecutive Test appearance.
In 1999 Glenn McGrath became the fourth Australian bowler to take a wicket off the very first ball of a Test match when he had Sanath Jayasuriya caught in the slips by Mark Waugh in the second Test at Galle. Jayasuriya incidentally became the first Sri Lankan batsman to be dismissed ‘first-ball’.
 |
| Glen McGrath |
