BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor
24 December has witnessed several notable events in cricket history. On this date, many important players were born, key international matches were played and memorable individual performances were recorded. These moments across different years make this day an important date in the cricket calendar.
On this day in 1932, England’s top order batsman Michael Colin Cowdrey was born in Ooty in Tamil Nadu, India. He was the first batsman in Test history to play 100 Test matches. On 11 July 1968, in a Test match against Australia in Birmingham, Cowdrey played a captaincy innings of 104 runs of 247 balls with 15 fours. He was also the first one in the list of a hundred in the 100th match in Tests. In his Test career between 1954 and 1975, he played a total of 114 and scored 7624 runs with 22 centuries.
Cowdrey made his Test debut for England at the age of 22. He long held the world record for the most Test catches (120) by a non-wicketkeeper. He captained the England team in 27 Test matches, although the team's performance during this period was average. Colin Cowdrey was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1969 for his services to cricket. Posthumously, his contributions were recognised by his induction into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2009.
Indian World Cup-winning leg-spinner Piyush Chawla was born on this day in 1988 in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. He was a member of both the Indian teams that won the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup and the 2011 ICC ODI World Cup, and was one of the youngest players to debut for India in Test cricket at the age of 17 years 75 days. He also captained the Indian Under-19 team during their tour of England in 2005-06. He won the IPL trophy with both the Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians franchises during his IPL career.
Piyush Chawala's international career was not very special; he played only 3 Tests, 25 ODIs and 7 T20Is. However, his impact in IPL was very special, he comes at number four in the list of highest wicket takers of IPL with 192 wickets in 192 matches. Piyush is considered one of India's most successful spinners who has won important matches with his bowling.
Virat Kohli scored his first ODI century against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 24 December 2009, which played a crucial role in securing him a permanent place in India's 2011 World Cup squad. Virat Kohli had made his ODI debut against the same team, Sri Lanka, in Dambulla on 18 August 2008. This was his first century in the 13th innings of his 14th ODI match.
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first, setting a massive target of 315 runs for India, with Upul Tharanga top-scoring with 118 runs. India had a poor start, with both Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar getting out early. But then Gambhir and Virat immediately took control of the team and started hitting all the Sri Lankan bowlers one after the other. In this match, Gambhir played an unbeaten innings of 150 runs and Virat Kohli scored 107 runs. Virat is now the player with the most centuries in ODI cricket, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 centuries and is the fastest batsman to reach 8,000, 9,000, 10,000, 11,000, 12,000 and 13,000 runs in ODIs. Virat has won the ICC Cricketer of the Year (Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy) award several times.
On this day in 1798, William Clarke, the founder of the All-England Eleven, was born in Nottingham, England. He was an excellent 'underarm' slow bowler who was famous for his accurate line and length. He established the famous Trent Bridge cricket ground in Nottingham and became its first curator and manager. Then, in 1846, William founded the All-England Eleven, a famous professional touring team in the history of cricket. He played a crucial role in popularizing cricket by traveling across Britain via railway, playing against local teams, and earning money from the matches. He later formed the basis for the development of the England national cricket team foundation, along with other teams such as the United All-England Eleven (UEE).
William was the first person to successfully establish a commercial system for making money from cricket matches and paying players. He brought together the best players in the country to form a team that challenged local clubs. William helped spread cricket to every corner of England and gave even people in villages the opportunity to watch professional cricket. Clarke started his first-class cricket career relatively late at 34 and continued playing and leading his team until he was 60 years old. He strengthened the tradition of gate money (ticket sales), which greatly improved the financial situation of clubs and players. William took a total of 788 wickets in his first-class career, which huge number at that time. William Clarke passed away in London on 25 August 1856 at the age of 64.
On 24 December 1993, in the first ODI between Pakistan and Zimbabwe at the National Stadium in Karachi, Wasim Akram took 5 wickets for just 15 runs in 7 overs (5/15) and recorded the best performance in his ODI career. Pakistan easily won the match by 7 wickets, with Akram being named 'Man of the Match'. In front of Akram’s lethal bowling, the Zimbabwean team was restricted to just 143 runs in 40 overs. He dismissed Zimbabwe's captain Andy Flower for a duck and took the wickets of four other batsmen.
Wasim Akram, known as the legendary of reverse swing and the Sultan of Swing, was the first bowler in history to take 500 wickets in ODI cricket. He was also a key player in the 1992 World Cup-winning team, where his spell in the final turned the tide of the match. He also holds a double century (257*) in Test cricket, which is the 10th highest Test score by a Pakistani batsman and has a total of four hat-tricks in international cricket (2 in Tests, 2 in ODIs). Akram made his ODI debut in 1984 and his Test debut in 1985. In his career, he played 104 Test matches, taking 414 wickets and scoring 2898 runs and 356 ODIs, taking 502 wickets and scoring 3717 runs.
The great English batsman Wally Hammond played his first Test match for England on 24 December 1927 in Johannesburg, South Africa. This match was the starting point of his career, which was to establish him as one of cricket's greatest batsmen. A total of 12 players made their debut in this match, out of which 6 were from England and 6 from South Africa. Although he didn't perform exceptionally well with the bat in his debut match (scoring 15 in the first innings and an unbeaten 1 in the second), England won the match by 10 wickets.
This was the first match of a 5-Test series, played from December 24 to 27, 1927. South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first, but were bowled out for 196 runs, largely due to the brilliant bowling of George Geary (7/70). England gained a lead by scoring 313 runs in their first innings. England took the lead by scoring 313 runs in their first innings, while South Africa could only manage 170 runs in their second innings. England were set a target of just 54 runs to win, which they achieved without losing any wickets. Wally Hammond scored 7,249 runs in his Test career at an impressive batting average of 58.45. His highest Test score was an unbeaten 336 runs, which stood as a world record in Test cricket for a considerable time. He has 7 double centuries in Test cricket (second most after Sir Don Bradman). He was often considered a contemporary of Sir Don Bradman and the only batsman who could rival Bradman's achievements.
On this day in 1982, in the match between 23-27 December, Pakistan's "Asian Bradman" Zaheer Abbas scored a brilliant 186 runs in the second Test against India. Zaheer Abbas dominated the bowling attack and converted his innings into a massive score. During his innings, he shared a massive 221-run partnership for the second wicket with Mudassar Nazar (119). Zaheer faced 295 balls and hit 17 fours, helping Pakistan post a formidable total of 452 runs in their first innings. He was eventually awarded the 'Man of the Match' for this outstanding performance.
In this match played at the National Stadium in Karachi, Pakistan won the toss and invited India to bat first. The Indian team collapsed like a pack of cards in the first innings and could score only 169 runs. Then, thanks to Zaheer Abbas's 186 runs, Pakistan scored 452 runs and gained a massive lead of 283 runs. On December 24, during India's second innings, Imran Khan bowled a devastating spell, taking 8 wickets for 60 runs. Pakistan won the match by an innings and 86 runs, taking a 1-0 lead in the series.
Comments
Leave a comment0 Comments