This day in history: 16th August

Jeff Thomson of Australia bowls with his unusual sling shot action

Cricket

1950: Birthday of Jeff Thomson, arguably the fastest bowler to have walked the planet. Thomson was able to generate steep bounce off short of length deliveries at tremendous speeds. In the 1974-75 Ashes, he was able to blow away the English batsmen and picked 33 wickets, helping Australia to regain the Ashes.

2009: Charles Coventry scored an unbeaten 194 runs off 154 balls against Bangladesh to equal the highest One Day International score, which was held at the time by Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar.

2000: The first ODI to be played indoors. Australia beat South Africa courtesy of a brilliant hundred by Michael Bevan at the Colonial Stadium in Melbourne.

1974: Birthday of West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Hailing from Guyana he is adored for his ability to bat long periods of time without ever giving his wicket away cheaply. He averages 51.81 in Test cricket, which stands testimony to his class as a Test match batsmen.

Athletics

2008: Usain Bolt runs the 100 metres dash clocking an amazing 9.69 seconds, creating a world record at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This record was later later broken by the great man, at the 2009 World Championships.

Football

1981: The highest score in a World Cup soccer match was registered when New Zealand beat Fiji by 13 goals to none

1981: Birthday of Roque Santa Cruz the footballer from Paraguay, who also plays as a striker for Malaga. He is loved for his natural goal scoring ability, and brilliant runs into the penalty box.

Baseball:

1920: Ray Chapman, of the Indians was hit on the head by a pitch form Carl Mays of the New York Yankees. Chapman died the next day, making this the only incident of a major league fatality.

1927: Babe Ruth hits the 1st Home Run hit out of the Comiskey Park in Chicago.

Miscellaneous

1954: The famous magazine “Sports Illustrated” began publishing on this day.

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