October 28 down the years

53 all out

The lowest total in a Test in Pakistan

Qadir's 6 for 16 helped Pakistan bundle West Indies out for 53  •  Getty Images

Qadir's 6 for 16 helped Pakistan bundle West Indies out for 53  •  Getty Images

1986
An astonishing West Indian collapse left Pakistan on the brink of victory in the first Test in Faisalabad. West Indies were chasing 240 to win a game they had largely dominated, but they closed in disarray on 43 for 9. The last rites were administered the next morning when they were bowled out for 53, their lowest total until Australia skittled them for 51 in Trinidad in 1998-99, and still the lowest in a Test in Pakistan. It was one of only eight defeats (in 82 matches) suffered by West Indies in the 1980s, and in most spin had a big part to play. For Bob Holland, Narendra Hirwani and Allan Border, read Abdul Qadir here: he tore through the middle order to take 6 for 16.
1963
Rob Bailey, who was born today, was rather unlucky to play only four Tests for England, all of them against West Indies in their prime. He is best remembered for an infamous incident in Barbados on the 1989-90 tour, when he was given out caught down the leg side. Wisden Cricket Monthly's editorial castigated "the antics of the West Indies captain [Viv Richards], all dignity cast to the wind as he displayed his 'ceremonial dance', orgasmic gesticulations every one of which was a denial of the belief that this is a game for mature, controlled men". Bailey did not play for England again after that tour.
1985
Sterling work from Ravi Ratnayeke could not save Sri Lanka from an eight-wicket defeat in the second Test against Pakistan in Sialkot. Ratnayeke took 8 for 83 in Pakistan's first innings, the best figures by a Sri Lankan bowler at the time. But Imran Khan trumped him with match figures of 9 for 95, as Sri Lanka were dismissed for 157 and 200. Pakistan knocked off the 99 needed for victory with a day and a half to spare
2000
Yet another ton for that underrated one-day player Gary Kirsten as he helped South Africa to a five-wicket win over New Zealand in Kimberley. Kirsten's 101 led the South Africans to 289 for 5. In the age of pinch-hitting Kirsten was living proof that there was still a place for the orthodox opener in the shorter game.
2023
The highest-scoring World Cup match ever ended in a last-ball thriller in Dharamsala, as New Zealand came within a hair's breadth of chasing down Australia's 388. Australia started aggressively: Travis Head's 59-ball hundred underpinned a massive 175-run stand between him and David Warner inside 20 overs. No one else passed 50, but no one needed to. New Zealand started comparatively slowly in the powerplay and their innings didn't really take off until Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra put on 96 runs for the third wicket. Ravindra's second hundred of the tournament brought New Zealand within reach, and Neesham picked up the baton, calmly picking off boundaries against Australia's increasingly frenetic bowling. With 19 to get off the last over, Mitchell Starc conceded five wides off the second ball. Neesham then took twos off each of the next three, but he was run-out trying a second on the fourth delivery, mirroring Martin Guptill's dismissal in the 2019 World Cup final, and Australia scraped through to a five-run win. The match aggregate of 771 runs was the highest ever in World Cups, bettering the 724 compiled by South Africa and Sri Lanka earlier in the tournament.
2012
Sydney Sixers became the second Australian team to win the Champions League Twenty20 when they beat Highveld Lions in the final in Johannesburg. The Big Bash League winners remained unbeaten in the tournament, thanks in large part to the leading run scorer, Michael Lumb (226) and leading wicket-taker, Mitchell Starc (14). Lumb made an unbeaten 82 in the one-sided final as Sixers chased down 122 without losing a wicket.
1962
Birth of the Dutchman who put the skids under England's Ashes dreams. Peter Cantrell was born in Gunnedah in Australia, and played for Holland in the 1996 World Cup, but he is best remembered for his part in England's first-Test defeat in Brisbane in 1990-91. He was hurriedly called up as a substitute fielder (he'd been at a nightclub until 3am that morning) and took two catches - one a blinder to undo Alec Stewart - as England collapsed fatally for 114 in their second innings. Cantrell's presence was slightly controversial, given that he was probably the best gully fielder in Australia at the time and that the less sure-fingered Carl Rackemann was the official 12th man.
Other birthdays
1903 Walter Lancashire (England)
1913 Cyril Christiani (West Indies)
1929 Tom Puna (New Zealand)
1938 Peter Carlstein (South Africa)
1945 Dennis Lillie (Australia)
1952 Flavian Aponso (Netherlands)