June 25 down the years

India's World Cup triumph

Kapil's boys pull off one of the greatest upsets ever

The crowd throng Lord's after India's World Cup win in 1983  •  Adrian Murrell/Getty Images

The crowd throng Lord's after India's World Cup win in 1983  •  Adrian Murrell/Getty Images

1983
A memorable day for Indian cricket, and a nasty surprise for West Indies. Most people thought West Indies just had to turn up to win the World Cup final at Lord's, an opinion that was reinforced when India struggled to 183 all out. West Indies then motored to 50 for 1, with Viv Richards scything seven fours in a 28-ball 33, but the match turned when he hoicked Madan Lal high in the air and was superbly caught by Kapil Dev. The drama of 57 for 3 soon turned into a crisis at 76 for 6, as India's medium-pacers wobbled West Indies to death, and the cricket world slowly realised that a monstrous shock was on the cards. The Man of the Match was Mohinder Amarnath, for his 26 and 3 for 12. The highest score in the whole match was Kris Srikkanth's 38.
1932
Fifty-one years earlier, India's international odyssey started with their inaugural Test, on this day. They reduced England to 19 for 3 on the first morning before Douglas Jardine rescued them - twice - and that, plus a series of injuries as well as a lack of experience, meant India slid to a 158-run defeat. But their gutsy performance won great acclaim.
1963
The end of an astonishing Lord's Test between England and West Indies. When the last ball was bowled, all four results were possible. England needed six to win, with their final pair, David Allen and Colin Cowdrey at the crease. Allen blocked the final ball from Wes Hall, and Cowdrey, who intended to bat in a left-hander's stance to protect his left hand, broken by a Hall delivery in the first innings, did not have to face a ball. It had been a sensational match, the momentum of which swung time and time again.
1934
Australia's only defeat in a Lord's Test in the 20th century. Their remarkable record - 11 wins, 13 draws and one defeat - was tarnished when Hedley Verity spun them to an innings defeat almost single-handed. Verity took 7 for 61 and 8 for 43. On this, the third and final day, he took 14 wickets for 80 runs, including six in the final hour. At one point Australia crumbled from 94 for 3 to 95 for 8. Not entirely surprisingly, this is remembered as "Verity's Match".
1955
Birth of Vic Marks, the England offspinner turned journalist. Marks, who played six Tests and 34 one-day internationals, was the first (and for 28 years the only) Englishman to take a five-for in a World Cup match. Marks struggled for penetration at Test level with the ball, although he made fifties in his last three innings, in Pakistan in 1983-84. He went on to be cricket correspondent of the Observer, and a regular on Test Match Special.
1953
Birth of Ian Davis, the Australian opener who played 15 Tests in the 1970s. He was only 20 when he made his debut, against New Zealand in Melbourne in 1973-74, but never really lived up to the billing. He made one Test century, against Pakistan in Adelaide in 1976-77, and a classy 68 in the second innings of the Centenary Test the same winter.
1971
Kenya's best batter is born. The classy Steve Tikolo top-scored in his side's sensational win over West Indies in the 1996 World Cup, and in the same tournament slammed 96 against Sri Lanka. He also made 71 against England in the 1999 tournament. Two years before that, he made a glorious 147 against Bangladesh in the ICC Trophy final. He took over the captaincy of the national side in 2002 but quit two years later after being at the heart of a players' strike that helped lead to the ousting of the board, following which he returned as captain. Tikolo led Kenya to the semi-final of the 2003 World Cup and played in the next two, retiring at the end of the disappointing 2011 campaign before making a comeback at 42 for the World T20 qualifiers in 2013, and then moving on to coaching the team.
Other birthdays
1905 Ian Cromb (New Zealand)
1923 Jack Hill (Australia)
1934 Willie Rodriguez (West Indies)
1946 Margaret Wilson (Australia)
1949 Lalith Kaluperuma (Sri Lanka)
1964 Phil Emery (Australia)
1967 Roshan Jurangpathy (Sri Lanka)
1969 Tunde Juhasz (Australia)
1971 Jason Gallian (England)