This week (Feb 3 - Feb 9) in Cricket history

Feb 3, 1995: Waugh spoils Waugh’s party

Steve Waugh became the second man in Test cricket history to be stranded on 99 by his brother Mark in the fifth Ashes test at Perth. Mark Waugh came in as a runner for tailender Craig Mcdermott and was run out, trying to go for a non-existing single from the non-striker’s end, after Steve hit the ball straight back to the bowler.

A video of the funny mix-up here:

Bob Simpson, one of Australia’s finest captains and all-rounders and Danny Morrison, the New Zealand fast bowler celebrate their birthdays on February 3.

Feb 4, 1929: The arrival of the Bradman double

Archie Jackson, a 19-year-old, scored a crackling 164 on debut for Australia against England at Adelaide, but unfortunately Australia lost the closely fought contest by 12 runs. He was considered to be as great as Sir Don Bradman before he died of tuberculosis four years later.

Feb 4, 1995: Zimbabwe’s day to cherish

The Zimbabwean Test team scored their maiden Test victory in their 11^th test, beating Pakistan in Harare by an innings and 64 runs, thanks to a double ton from Grant Flower and centuries from Andy Flower and Guy Whittall. Heath Streak also scalped nine wickets in the match to give Pakistan its most embarrassing test defeat ever.

Mahmudullah of Bangladesh was born on this day in 1986 and also coincidentally, received his maiden ODI cap on this day in 2007.

Feb 5, 2011: A gloomy day for Pakistan cricket

The ICC banned Pakistani cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer after they were found guilty in the spot-fixing row that shook cricket during the 2010 Lord’s Test. They were suspended from cricket for ten, seven and five years respectively, though all of their sentences got changed with subsequent appeals and after which the London court handed them jail terms, giving them a chance to return to competitive cricket in 2015.

Feb 6, 1995: End of England’s ‘G’ pair

Two of England’s greatest batsmen played their last Test innings on this day against the Australians in Perth. Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting were dismissed by Craig Mcdermott with the former batsman getting caught and bowled while the latter lost his stumps. Between them, Gooch and Gatting played in 187 tests, scoring over 13,000 runs.

Watch out for another Gooch – McDermott dismissal here:

Fast bowlers Fred Trueman, Sreesanth and Fidel Edwards and Australian spinner Brad Hogg were born on this day while Daniel Vettori became the youngest Test cricketer for New Zealand at 18 years and 10 days in 1997.

Feb 7, 1999: Jumbo’s day out

Anil Kumble became only the second man to achieve the nearly impossible on this day against Pakistan in Delhi. He demolished ten Pakistan batsmen in an innings in a single spell of 18.2 overs, pushing India to its first victory against Pakistan in 23 tests. Kumble’s 10/74 remains the best bowling figures in Test cricket till date. Jim Laker was the first person to accomplish this feat.

Feb 8, 1994: Kapil breaks World Record

On the first day of the third Test against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad, Kapil Dev had Hashan Tilakaratne taken at short leg off Sanjay Manjrekar, thereby breaking Richard Hadlee’s world record of 431 wickets. The feat was saluted with 432 flying balloons and a minute’s standing ovation. In the same match, Maravan Atapattu recorded his fourth duck in five innings. (In his only other innings, he scored 1, which was actually a leg-bye).

India’s most illustrious player and former captain Mohammed Azharuddin was born on this day in 1963.

Feb 9, 2001: The Australian domination all around

With a comfortable win over West Indies in the second One Day final, Australia won 15 out 15 matches in the home series. After a 5-0 whitewash over the touring Caribbeans in the Tests, they won all the ten matches in the ODI series to affirm the dominating era for Steve Waugh’s boys, well set up by a majestic 173 from his brother Mark Waugh in the last match.

February 9 also marks the birth of two of the world’s greatest bowlers – the crafty Jim Laker and the ever-reliable Glenn McGrath.