All Today's Yesterdays - November 14 down the years
November 13 | November 15
1904
Birth of a man best remembered for his part in the Bodyline controversy. Harold Larwood was Douglas Jardine's main man when he unleashed his leg-theory on Australia in 1932-33. In five Tests Larwood took 33 wickets at 19.51 and even made Bradman seem human. After that Larwood was never picked for England again, partly because of his refusal to apologise for tactics others had devised. But his part in the controversy should not obscure Larwood's brilliance. Although he wasn't a tall man, he was hostile and fiercely quick, with an action was so vigorous that, legend has it, his knuckles would scrape the surface in his follow-through. He was a lusty hitter, too, and in his last Test at Sydney he creamed 98 as nightwatchman. Larwood, who was loudly barracked in Australia when he played, ironically later emigrated there, and died in Sydney in 1995.
1971
In its rich 125-year history, Test cricket has never seen a player quite like Adam Gilchrist, who was born today. When Ian Healy retired it looked as if a chink might be appearing in Australia's armour, but instead they brought in a wicketkeeper who averages over 50, and scores those runs at an indecent rate. With his ability to nail a good position created by the top order, Gilchrist was central to Steve Waugh's great Test-cricket revolution of winning the toss and bowling first. His innings include a brutal 152 against England at Edgbaston in 2001, as well an the astonishing 122 that set up victory over India at Mumbai, when Gilchrist smashed his century off 84 balls. In the heavyweight clash in South Africa in 2001-02, Gilchrist walloped 204 not out off only 213 balls at Johannesburg. In the next Test, at Cape Town, he came up with an even better innings: 138 not out off only 108 balls, after the Aussies had collapsed from 162 for 2 to 185 for 6.
1981
A Dennis Lillee-inspired rout at the WACA, as Pakistan were dismissed at Perth for just 62, their lowest-ever Test score until they twice plumbed new depths in the same match against Australia at Sharjah in 2002-03. Their innings lasted only 21.2 overs, and it could have been a lot worse - they were 26 for 8 before Sarfraz Nawaz, the only man to reach double figures, flashed a chancy 26. Lillee took 5 for 18 and Terry Alderman 4 for 36, and Australia eventually won the match by 286 runs on the final day. But there was controversy on the fourth afternoon, when a vexed Lillee deliberately impeded and aimed a kick at Javed Miandad to spark an infamous spat. Miandad threatened to crown Lillee with his bat, before umpire Tony Crafter ended their contretemps. Lillee was suspended from two one-day internationals as a result.
1983
Another Australia-Pakistan encounter at the WACA, and another routine Aussie victory, by an innings and nine runs. Carl Rackemann grabbed match figures of 11 for 118. The result was never in doubt once Wayne Phillips (159 on debut) and Graham Yallop (141) put on 259 for the second wicket.
1843
Birth of the man to take the first-ever Test wicket. If subtracting bowling average from batting average gives a true measure of the quality of an allrounder, then Yorkshireman Allen Hill (batting: 50.50, bowling 18.57) was right up there with the very best. But that record came from only two Tests, and in reality Hill was not much of a batsman - his first-class average was 8.94. He was, however, a very good seam bowler, who bowled Nat Thomson for 1 on the first morning of the first Test at Melbourne in 1876-77. And he took the first catch too. Hill died in Lancashire in 1910.
1991
An historic day at New Delhi, where South Africa grabbed their first victory since their return to the international stage. They overhauled India's 287 for 4 to win the third one-dayer in fine style, by eight wickets with 20 balls to spare. The old heads Kepler Wessels (90) and Peter Kirsten (86*) did most of the work, and Adrian Kuiper applied the gloss with a punishing unbeaten 63 off 41 balls. It was their captain Clive Rice's first taste of victory for his country - and his last, because he was then controversially dropped ahead of the 1992 World Cup.
Other birthdays
1930 Alan Moss (England)
1942 Jackie du Preez (South Africa)
1967 Saba Karim (India)
1974 Hrishikesh Kanitkar (India)
1976 Hemang Badani (India)
1977 Brijal Patel (Kenya)
© Cricinfo
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The Tony Greig Show: Why India could become No. 1 in the world, and the over-rates issue
