Look folks, it's Ben Stokes

2019
Was Ian Botham the old Ben Stokes? At the venue where Beefy became a legend, a courageous Stokes wrote some history of his own, leading England to their biggest winning chase, with No. 11 for company, after they had been dismissed for 67 in the first innings. At the start of day four, England were 156 for 3 chasing 359. Stokes' 86-run stand with Jonny Bairstow gave England hope, but Australia fought back, dismissing Nos. 7 to 10 for 41 runs, and they had one hand on the urn when last man Jack Leach walked out to bat. He hung around an hour for one crucial run while Stokes indulged in a smart and calculated assault - at one point reverse-slog-sweeping Nathan Lyon for six. Although Stokes' innings was largely chanceless, there were some nervous moments when England needed two to win - shades of Edgbaston 1999 (and 2005). Lyon muffed an easy chance to run Leach out and Stokes survived an lbw appeal because Australia had used up their last review in the previous over. In the end, Stokes sealed it with a four and, for the first time in 131 years, a team won a Test after making under 70 in the first innings.

2019
Later that day, in Antigua, Jasprit Bumrah took figures of 5 for 7 to decimate West Indies for 100 and hand India their biggest away win in terms of runs. In the process, he became the first bowler from Asia to take five-wicket hauls in Australia, England, South Africa and the West Indies, in only his 11th Test. West Indies had done well to restrict India to 297 in the first innings, but couldn't do the same in the second, where Ajinkya Rahane, ending a two-year wait for a Test hundred, set up the target of 419 with Hanuma Vihari (93).

2020
At 38, James Anderson became the first seamer, and the fourth bowler overall, to get 600 Test wickets. He reached the milestone when Pakistan's Azhar Ali nicked a catch to Joe Root at slip on the fifth day of the Test in Southampton. A year later he became the first player among those who made their debuts in the 21st century to get to 1000 first-class cricket wickets.

1995
In the course of his 254 not out for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan, 20-year-old Andrew Symonds used the short boundaries at Abergavenny to hit 16 sixes, then a world record for a first-class innings. He hit another four sixes in the second innings to make it 20 in the match, also a record at the time.

1952
Birth of the first captain to lead Sri Lanka to victory in a Test. Duleep Mendis was in charge when India were beaten at Colombo's P Sara Stadium in 1985-86. A stocky, big-hitting batter, he scored 111 and 94 in Sri Lanka's first Test at Lord's in 1984 and was the first batter to make identical scores of over 100 in the same Test: 105 and 105 in Chennai in 1982-83.

1968
Death of sparkling Australian batter Stan McCabe, who played two of the most famous innings in Ashes Tests. He hit an explosive 187 not out in Sydney in 1932-33, the ultimate defiance in the face of Bodyline - and his 232 at Trent Bridge in 1938 was so good that Don Bradman insisted the rest of the team go out onto the balcony to watch it. Genial Stan was out to the first ball he faced in club and state cricket. He was dismissed on his second ball in Tests, having hit the first for four.

2013
The 2013 Ashes ended under a cloud. You can substitute that with any other pun you'd like to make on modern cricket's obsession with light. Australia had lost the Ashes 3-0 and on the final day of the series, at The Oval, with play lost due to rain, Michael Clarke tried to set up a contest by declaring at 111 for 6 and setting England a target of 227 in 44 overs. Kevin Pietersen led the chase, with England's fastest Ashes fifty, but with his side needing 21 off four overs, in front of a packed house and a now-anxious Clarke, the umpires went by the rules and took light.

1928
The description "long-serving" might have been invented for Ken Suttle, who was born today. An opening batter who scored 30,225 first-class runs, he set a record that still stands by playing in 423 consecutive County Championship matches for Sussex from 1954 to 1969.

1957
The birth of the tall and gangling Pakistan fast-medium bowler Sikander Bakht, who could invoke lively pace from most pitches, making his natural outswinger a nightmare for most batters. Bakht created headlines after breaking Mike Brearley's arm during a one-day match in Karachi. His finest hour in his 26 Tests came against India in Delhi in 1979-80, when he demolished them on a placid wicket by taking 8 for 69.

1898
Birth of Yorkshire wicketkeeper Arthur Wood, who treated us to one of the great lines in Test cricket. Making his Test debut against Australia at The Oval in 1938, he went in to bat with England 770 for 6. "Aye," quoth he, "I'm always at me best in a crisis." True to his word, he made 53.

1948
It was always likely that Don Bradman would make his last innings at Lord's a memorable one. According to Wisden, he "threw away his wicket" after reaching 150 - then declared the Australians' innings at 610 for 5. They beat the Gentlemen by an innings.

1973
A bomb scare held up play for an hour and a half at Lord's. The delay couldn't save England: the lost time was made up, and their defeat at the hands of West Indies by an innings and 226 runs cost them the series 2-0.

Other birthdays
1906 Jim Smith (England)
1962 Shahid Mahboob (Pakistan)
1965 Sanjeev Sharma (India)
1967 Anina Burger (South Africa)
1969 Vivek Razdan (India)
1976 Javed Qadeer (Pakistan)
1981 Jan-Berrie Burger (Namibia)