Cricketers XI with their birthday on 14 October

October is a month which assumes great significance in the history of cricket primarily because it has witnessed the birth of several great players from all over the world. England’s Geoffrey Boycott, South Africa’s Jacques Kallis, India’s Anil Kumble and Virender Sehwag, Australia’s Matthew Hayden and Richie Benaud and Sri Lanka’s Aravinda de Silva and Kumar Sangakkara were all born in October.

A large number of cricketers also have their birthdays today, i.e. 14 October. While some of them are highly popular names in the sport, others represented their respective teams in just a few matches and therefore, are not very well known.

Here is an XI of players who were born on 14 October:

#1 Tillakaratne Dilshan

A modern-day great of the limited-overs formats, Tillakaratne Dilshan was born on 14 October 1976 in the Kalutara district of Sri Lanka. Dilshan made his international debut back in 1999 and almost 14 years later in 2013, he bid adieu to the Test arena with more than 5000 runs in 87 Tests.

However, he continued to play in ODIs as well T20Is and represented the Sri Lankan team both in the 2015 World Cup and the World T20 tournaments in 2014 and 2016. Just last month, Tillakaratne Dilshan finally drew the curtains on a remarkable career which saw him score over 10,000 ODI and close to 2000 T20I runs.

#2 Gautam Gambhir

Gambhir recently made a comeback into the Indian Test side

Gautam Gambhir, one of India’s finest openers of all time, was born in Delhi on 14 October 1981. Since making his international debut in 2003, Gambhir was always among the most talented batsmen in the Indian team but his career hit a purple patch between the years 2007 and 2011 where he excelled in all three formats.

But things started to go south for the southpaw post that and he has strived hard to get back into the national side ever since. Gautam Gambhir’s effort seems to have finally paid off, though, as he made a comeback into the Test team in the recently concluded series against New Zealand.

#3 Shan Masood

Shan Masood has a Test century to his name

Shan Masood is a left-handed opening batsman who has represented Pakistan in 9 Tests between 2013 and 2016. Masood was born in the Middle Eastern country of Kuwait on 14 October 1989 and his talent was recognised at an early age of 13 when he was picked for the Pakistani Under-15 team.

The cricketer, who turned 27 today, made his Test debut against South Africa in 2013 and impressed with a solid 75 in his very first innings. Shan Masood scored his maiden century against Sri Lanka at Pallekele last year but a dismal outing on the tour to England saw his ouster from the national team.

#4 Glenn Maxwell

Maxwell is a dangerous hitter of the cricket ball

Perhaps the most devastating batsman in world cricket right now, Glenn Maxwell was born on this day in 1988 in the Kew suburb of Melbourne. Although Maxwell has struggled to maintain a permanent spot in the Australian team, his exciting strokeplay is one of the reasons why the selectors keep backing him for the limited-overs formats.

The 28-year old’s ability to smash the ball out of the park is unmatched and the proof of this lies in his thunderous ODI and T20I strike rates of 125.74 and 167.41 respectively. Of late, Glenn Maxwell has shown quite a lot of maturity with the bat in hand and it is a good sign not only for him but also for his team.

#5 Rashid Latif

Latif was a controversial character both on and off the field

Former Pakistani wicket-keeper batsman Rashid Latif was born on 14 October 1968 in the Pakistani city of Karachi. Latif represented his country over a period of 11 years and played a total of 37 Tests and 166 ODIs during his career and has a Test century to his name.

More than his talent on the cricket field, the now 48-year old is remembered for the controversies that he got involved in. One of the incidents saw Rashid Latif guilty of claiming an unfair catch during a series in Bangladesh for which he received a 5-match ban.

Latif is also among the first few players to have made claims of match-fixing taking place in cricket.

#6 Ashton Agar

Agar surprised everyone by scoring 98 on debut while coming at No. 11

Young Australian all-rounder Ashton Agar was born in Melbourne on this day in the year 1993. Since making a memorable debut in the 2013 Ashes series where he scored a record 98 while batting at No. 11 for Australia, Agar has played a total of 6 international matches, two each in every format.

The left-arm spinner has been a pretty decent performer in domestic cricket and was rewarded with a spot in Australia’s World T20 squad this year. Ashton Agar is just 23 years old at the moment and has a lot of time on hand to make a career for himself, provided he gets enough opportunities.

#7 Doug Ring

Doug Ring was a hard-hitting all-rounder

Doug Ring was an all-rounder who represented Australia in 13 Tests between the years 1948 and 1953. Ring was born on 14 October 1918 in the Tasmanian city of Hobart and rubbed shoulders with some of his country’s greats like Donald Bradman, Neil Harvey and Keith Miller among others.

As a right-handed batsman, he scored more than 400 Test runs at an average of over 22 with 4 half-centuries. With his leg-spin, Doug Ring managed to pick up 35 wickets in 23 innings with best figures of 6 for 72 against South Africa at Brisbane in 1952.

Ring is remembered most for his 38-run partnership with Bill Johnston at Adelaide which helped the Aussies seal an improbable win over the West indies.

#8 Saeed Ajmal

Ajmal enjoyed great success with the ball for quite a while

Pakistani off-spinner Saeed Ajmal was born on 14 October 1977 in the city of Faisalabad. In his prime, Ajmal used to be one of the most dangerous bowlers in world cricket but he was never the same bowler after he was pulled up for a faulty action in 2014.

Although he did return to the Pakistan team after getting his action modified, the offie was dropped later due to his inability to bowl effectively. Despite being 39 years old, Saeed Ajmal has not called time on his career just yet and continues to play domestic cricket in the hope of getting a performance-based recall.

#9 Jack Young

Young (back row – 1st from right) with the Middlesex team in 1947 (Image Credit: ESPNCricinfo)

Jack Young was an English cricketer who played 8 Tests for his country in the late 1940s. The left-arm spinner was born on 14 October 1912 in St John’s Wood district of London, which is in the vicinity of the iconic Lord’s cricket ground.

While Young was unable to create much of an impression in international cricket with just 17 wickets at 44.52, he was a legend in first-class cricket with 1361 wickets in 341 matches at an average of under 20. Jack Young’s best performance in Tests was a 3 for 65 against New Zealand in his final innings.

#10 Hasantha Fernando

Fernando was picked for Sri Lanka’s 2007 World Twenty20 squad but did not play

Sri Lanka’s Hasantha Fernando is a former cricketer who played 2 Tests and 7 ODIs for his national team between 2002 and 2006. An all-rounder by trade, Fernando was born on 14 October 1979 in a town known as Panadura in the Kalutara district of the ‘Emerald Isle’.

He was hardly able to create an impression with either bat or ball during his brief international career apart from an ODI best bowling performance of 3 for 12 against Bangladesh. Hasantha Fernando was included in the Sri Lankan squad for the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 but did not get to make his T20I debut.

#11 Jack Crapp

Jack Crapp was also an international umpire

Jack Crapp was an English Test cricketer who was born on 14 October 1912 in a town called St Columb Major in the Cornwall county of England. Crapp played 7 Tests for England and scored 319 runs in 13 innings with three half-centuries to his name.

The left-handed batsman used to play his domestic cricket for Gloucestershire and represented them in 452 matches, scoring over 23,000 runs. Jack Crapp went on to become an international umpire in 1964 and officiated in 4 Tests, all of them involving England.