June 23 down the years

The man who retrieved the Ashes

The great Len Hutton is born

Len Hutton scored 6971 runs in 79 Tests  •  PA Photos

Len Hutton scored 6971 runs in 79 Tests  •  PA Photos

1916
In Pudsey, one of England's greatest batters is born. Len Hutton will always be remembered for his 364 against Australia at The Oval in 1938 - the highest score in Ashes Tests, and the highest in any Test at the time. He was a stylish, technically impeccable opener who could switch easily between attack and defence as the situation demanded. He established himself after a poor start - 0 and 1 on debut - and played arguably his finest innings at Lord's in 1953, a flashing 145 against Australia. That summer Hutton led England to regain the Ashes, in a coronation year as well, and he was the first professional to be regularly appointed England captain. In 1956 he became only the third cricketer (after Jack Hobbs and Don Bradman) to be knighted for services to the game as a player. In the first innings of a Test he averaged a mighty 65, and 17 of his 19 centuries were made in first innings. Hutton injured his left arm badly during the Second World War, spending eight months in hospital and emerging with one arm two inches shorter than the other. He later became an England selector. He died in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1990.
2021
Two years after heartbreak in the 2019 World Cup final, New Zealand lifted the inaugural World Test Championship title in Southampton, beating India in the final on the sixth day. An anticlimactic draw seemed on the horizon after rain blighted the first four days and India started their second innings after tea on the fifth. Then Tim Southee picked up 4 for 48 and Kyle Jamieson knocked over lynchpins Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, skittling India out for 170 before lunch on the final day. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor then calmly picked off a fourth-innings target of 139, Taylor bringing up the win with a flick off the pads to the square-leg boundary. Jamieson was player of the match for his 5 for 31 in the first innings.
1979
A World Cup final at Lord's - and an unforgettable, toe-crushing interrogation from Joel Garner. West Indies retained their crown with a 92-run victory over England - Garner wrapping things up in blistering style with a spell of 5 for 4 in 11 balls. Four were bowled, three yorked, and four of them also bagged ducks. Geoff Boycott and Mike Brearley had laid a platform with an opening partnership of 129, but they did so too slowly, and England crumbled from 183 for 2 to 194 all out. Earlier Viv Richards had lashed a regal 138 and Collis King had had his moment in the sun with a thumping 66-ball 86.
2013
A thrilling end to a damp day at Edgbaston as India held their nerve to overcome England in the final of the last edition of the Champions Trophy. In a match reduced to 20 overs, India were kept down to 129 thanks to Ravi Bopara's 3 for 20 with his dibbly-dobbly medium pace. Bopara was in fine nick with the bat too and took England to a point when they needed 28 off the last three overs. But Ishant Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, and R Ashwin turned the tables at the death. Leading them was the ice-cool MS Dhoni, who became the first captain to win all three international ICC trophies.
1957
Zimbabwe's first captain is born. Dave Houghton was also their first centurion, after making a painstaking 121 against India in Zimbabwe's inaugural Test, in Harare in 1992-93. Then his approach was dictated by the weight of the occasion, but ordinarily he was an attacking batter of real quality. Against Sri Lanka in Bulawayo two years later, he smashed a massive 266, but his most famous innings came before Zimbabwe were granted Test status. In the 1987 World Cup, Houghton made a glorious 142 against New Zealand in Hyderabad - only one other Zimbabwean scored more than 12 - and led his side from 104 for 7 to within three runs of New Zealand's 242 for 7. He later became national coach and a TV commentator.
1947
A massive partnership at Lord's, as Bill Edrich and Denis Compton, in the middle of their greatest year, punished a modest South Africa attack. The pair added 370, with Edrich cracking 189 and Compton 208. At the time it was the highest partnership for the third wicket in a Test. It remains England's highest for the third wicket, and is the highest for any wicket in a Lord's Test.
1980
Ramnaresh Sarwan's maturity and the serenity of his strokeplay were in evidence since his debut at 19, when he made a cool, classy 84 not out against Pakistan. It took Sarwan, who was born on this day, 49 innings to post his maiden Test century, and that was against Bangladesh, who were also at the receiving end when he made a double-century in 2004. Following Brian Lara's retirement after the World Cup in 2007, Sarwan was appointed captain for the tour of England, but a shoulder injury ruled him out and he lost the captaincy to Chris Gayle. The dip in form didn't come immediately - he made 291 against England in Barbados in 2009 - but he didn't play any Tests in 2010 and was excluded from the contracts list. He played the 2011 World Cup but was dropped again because of what the selectors said was a "focus on youth".
1928
The beginning of West Indies' life as a Test-playing nation. England crushed them by an innings, with Ernest Tyldesley hammering 122 in his only Test innings at Lord's. But they proved to be quick learners. In their sixth Test, the following winter, they recorded their first win.
2003
The first T20 hundred was scored on this day. In the first season of England's Twenty20 Cup, Ian Harvey smashed an unbeaten 100 off 50 balls for Gloucestershire as they chased Warwickshire's 134 in just 13.1 overs at Edgbaston. Seventy-six of Harvey's runs came off boundaries (in 17 balls). In 2004, Harvey moved to Yorkshire and scored hundreds for them in that season and the next.
1932
Nineteen Tests for Bob Blair, the Wellington fast bowler who was born today, but he played in a poor New Zealand side. They lost 13 and won none of those 19 Tests, and Blair failed to take a five-for. As a lower-order batter he was extremely erratic. He bagged three pairs, reached double figures in only two of his 34 Test innings, but managed to slap 64 not out against England in Wellington in 1962-63. Blair also famously held up an end against South Africa in Johannesburg in 1953-54, just after hearing that his fiancée had been killed in a train crash.
1982
Though he made his debut in 2003, Carlton Baugh really got his break in 2010 after the West Indian selectors gave up on Denesh Ramdin. Baugh does not meet modern-day cricket's requirement of wicketkeeper-batter, but he did well to get a half-century in Colombo in 2010 and another against India at home a few months later.
1904
Birth of Quintin McMillan, the South African legspinner who played 13 Tests between 1929 and 1932. After 20 wickets in 11 Tests he took 16 in his last two, including two five-fors as South Africa beat New Zealand in Christchurch and Wellington. McMillan then retired to pursue a business career. He was only 44 when he died in his native Transvaal in 1948.
1986
Birth of Sri Lanka fast bowler Shaminda Eranga, who made his international debut in 2011, in the home series against Australia. His ODI and Test debuts were both spectacular: he needed only two balls to strike in his first ODI, and in his first Test he went one better, taking a wicket with his first ball (becoming only the second Sri Lanka bowler to achieve the feat). He took 11 wickets in two Tests during the 2014 tour of England, including the one that secured a thrilling series win for Sri Lanka in the last minute of play at Headingley. Two years later, Eranga took only five wickets from three Tests in England, and was suspended from bowling in international cricket after his action was found to be suspect.
Other birthdays
1849 Edmund Tylecote (England)
1890 Tich Richmond (England)
1925 Trevor Barber (New Zealand)
1940 Mike Shrimpton (New Zealand)