July 30 down the years

Jimmy finds his mojo

Birth of England fast bowler James Anderson

James Anderson is also the first England bowler to 400 Test wickets  •  Getty Images

James Anderson is also the first England bowler to 400 Test wickets  •  Getty Images

1982
Few rises have been as meteoric as birthday boy James Anderson's. In the summer of 2002 he was playing club cricket in Lancashire; by February 2003 he was bowling England to victory over Pakistan in the World Cup. By May he had taken five wickets on his Test debut, at Lord's. But he soon lost his bowling mojo and spent a frustrating winter on the fringes of the Test team, before coming back with six wickets in the historic Mumbai Test win of 2006. In 2008, as Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison faded, Anderson stepped up to take the mantle of England's spearhead. New Zealand were blown away at Trent Bridge (Anderson 7 for 43) and that was the start of a purple patch, during which he went on to earn a reputation as one of England's great bowlers. In July 2013 he passed Fred Trueman on England's all-time wicket-list during the first Test at Trent Bridge. He took 25 wickets in five Tests at home against India in 2014. A year later he surpassed Ian Botham as England's highest wicket-taker and joined the 500 club in 2017, at Lord's. Three years later, he became the first fast bowler to get to 600, against Pakistan in Southampton.
1995
In the first over of the fourth morning at Old Trafford, Dominic Cork became the first England player to take a Test hat-trick since Peter Loader in 1957. After bowling England to victory on debut at Lord's, Cork's wickets just kept coming, almost as quickly as the champagne puns kept flowing in the British press. Bowling wicket to wicket with a hint of movement, Cork bowled West Indies captain Richie Richardson off an inside edge, before trapping their wicketkeeper, Junior Murray, and Carl Hooper lbw. West Indies, who had resumed on their overnight 159 for 3, slumped to 161 for 6, and despite the best efforts of Brian Lara, who made a brilliant 145, they were unable to avoid a six-wicket defeat. For good measure, Cork had added a maiden half-century, 56 not out, in the first innings.
1914
Suicide of the mighty Albert Trott. The first bowler to take eight wickets in an innings on his Test debut, he played for both Australia and England and is still the only man to hit a ball over the pavilion at Lord's.
1947
Death of the first great Caribbean batter. After appearing against an England team in 1906, George Challenor played for the first official West Indies Test team, at Lord's in 1928, by which time he was only five days short of his 40th birthday.
1892
Birth of the luckless Dr Roy Park. It's said that when his wife dropped her knitting at the MCG in 1920-21, she missed her husband's entire Test career as a batter. He'd been kept up all night before his debut for Australia against England, and he was dismissed by the only ball he faced in Test cricket.
1889
The tragic and painful death of Charlie Absolom. A batter who scored 52 in his only Test for England, he was killed when a crane tipped a crate of sugar over him in Trinidad.
1984
Perth-born Dean Brownlie moved to New Zealand in 2009, qualifying to play for them through his Christchurch-born father Jim. A middle-order batter, Brownlie made his first-class debut for Canterbury in the 2010-11 season. He made his international debut in a T20 against Pakistan in December 2010. He received his Test cap from Chris Harris in Bulawayo in 2011 and began well, scoring three half-centuries in his first six innings. He got his only Test hundred in Cape Town (in the match in which New Zealand were bowled out for 45) and played only a handful of Tests after that.
1989
Wayne Parnell, born on this day, turned heads with his left-arm pace when he ripped through England and West Indies at the 2009 World T20. When he followed that with two ODI five-fors later in the year, the excited whispers grew louder. But a combination of injuries and inconsistency hampered his progress, and he struggled to nail down a regular place in the South Africa side. A fruitful domestic one-day cup in 2015-16, in which he finished as the third-highest wicket-taker, helped him to make it back into the national set-up.
Other birthdays
1910 Dorothy McEvoy (England)
1965 Tim Munton (England)
1963 Peter Bowler (England)
1969 Errol Stewart (South Africa)