This day in history: 15th September

Abdul Qadir bowling for Pakistan against England during the Prudential Cricket World Cup match held at Old Trafford, Manchester on 18th June 1983

Cricket

1946 - One of the finest all-rounders of all time Mike Procter was born. South Africa’s worldwide ban restricted Mike Procter to only seven Tests. Bowling at tremendous pace off the wrong foot, he took 26 wickets at only 13.57 in his final series (1969-70), as South Africa hammered Australia 4-0. Later on, his tenure as ICC match referee had its fare share of controversy. He was the official in charge during Pakistan’s forfeited Test at The Oval in 2006, and was in charge when Harbhajan Singh was banned in Sydney in 2007-08.

1955 – One of all time great spinners, Abdul Qadir, was born today. In his 67 Test matches he took 236 Test which included 15 five-wicket hauls. He along with Imran Khan was the mainstay of Pakistan bowling attack in ’80s.

1971 - One of New Zealand’s star batsmen, Nathan Astle, was born. In March 2002 he earned a place in record books with some unbelievable piece of hitting at Christchurch. As New Zealand chased 550 for victory against England, Astle smashed 222 from 168 balls to bring his side to within 99 runs of their target. He smashed a whopping 28 fours and 11 sixes, and scored his last 100 runs from only 39 balls. A veteran of 81 Test matches he scored 4702 runs at an average of 37.02.

Football

1978 - Eiour Guojohnsen, Iceland’s all-time leading scorer, was born in Reykjavik. Guojohnsen started his career in 1994 with Valur Reykjavík. Since then, he has played for twelve different clubs, including successful spells with European heavyweights like PSV (1995-97), Chelsea (2000-06), and Barcelona (2006-09), winning league titles with all three. For national team he earned his first cap in 1996 and made history in April of that year when he came on as a substitute to replace his father, Arnor.

1987 – France and Liverpool football player, Aly Cissokho, was born today. Cissokho is currently on loan to Liverpool from Valencia, has represented clubs like Porto and Lyon.

Golf

1899 – 5th US Golf Open: Willie Smith shoots a 315 at Baltimore CC MD.

1961 – 61st US Golf Amateur Championship won by Jack Nicklaus.

1985 – 26th Ryder Cup: Europe beat US, 16½-11½ at The Belfry, England.

Baseball

1912 - Red Sox pitcher Joe Wood ties the then record of 16 straight wins.

1950 – For a record 6th time, NY Yankee Johnny Mize hits 3 HRs in one game

Boxing

1953 – Boxing’s international body, WBA, adopts a 10-point-must-scoring-system (10 points to round winner).

1978 - Muhammad Ali beats Leon Spinks in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.

Olympics

2000 – Opening ceremony of the 27th Olympic games in Sydney, Australia.

Do check out the rest of the ‘This day in history‘ series.