On This Day In Cricket - January 8

Cricket is a game in which we get to see something new every day, which always remains etched in the hearts and minds of the fans. 8th January is also a special day in the history of cricket. This day witnessed many memorable moments, from first-class cricket to the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup. Besides, many stories of cricketers' births, their glorious centuries, and big victories are linked to this way. Let's take a look at those memorable moments that occurred on this day in the history of cricket.

On This Day - January 8, 2021 - Steve Smith's 27th Test Century

On this day in 2021, during the third Test match between Australia and India at the Sydney Ground, Steve Smith achieved a significant feat by scoring his 27th Test century. It was on the second day of the match that Smith played a brilliant innings of 131 runs, helping Australia to score 338 runs in their first innings. During this match, Smith completed his 27 Test centuries in just 136 innings and became the second-fastest batsman in the world to reach 27 centuries in Test cricket history, after Sir Donald Bradman, who scored 27 centuries in 70 innings. He broke Sachin Tendulkar's record of 141 innings with this innings.

However, Smith’s brilliant individual performance was not enough to win the match for Australia. The Indian team managed to draw the match on the final day due to the determined batting performances of Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara. This match is still remembered for Smith's 27th century, as well as India's fighting performance. After a drawn third Test in the four-match series, they won the last and final Test, winning the series 2–1.

On This Day - January 8, 1991 - Josh Hazlewood Was Born

On this day in 1991, Australia’s excellent and highly accurate fast bowler Josh Hazlewood was born in New South Wales. His most memorable performance came on 19 December 2020 in the day-night Test match against India in Adelaide, where he took 5 wickets for just 8 runs in 5 overs, including 3 maiden overs. His spell played a crucial role in bundling out India for their lowest Test score of 36 runs. This performance by Hazlewood was the most economical five-wicket haul by an Australian bowler in 73 years. Hazlewood currently plays actively for the Australian national team in all formats and is also a part of the IPL franchise team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

Hazlewood has so far taken 295 wickets in 76 Tests, 149 in ODIs and 79 wickets in T20Is matches. Hazlewood is renowned for his accurate line-length, consistency and ability to extract bounce and played a key role in many important series and tournaments for Australia, especially in the 2021 T20 World Cup victory. His performance of 5/8 is not only the best Test figures of his career but also the most destructive spell in the history of pink ball cricket. The score built by India in this match is still the lowest score of India in Test cricket and one of the top lowest Test scores by any team in Test cricket.

On This Day In - January 8, 1901 - NSW’s Five Centuries in One Innings 

On the third day of the New South Wales (NSW) vs South Australia (SOA) match, NSW's batsmen made a historic innings. This occurred during the first-class match between 5th and 9th January 1901, when 5 New South Wales batsmen scored 5 centuries and took the team's score to a huge 918. It created a world record in First-Class cricket that day and the record remained unbroken for 22 years. It was a timeless match, which was to be played till a result was reached at the popular Sydney Cricket Ground. South Australia won the toss and decided to bat first, but the entire team was all out for just 157 runs.

As 6th January was a Sunday, no play took place and NSW came out to bat on the 7th. Trumper and Iredale made a partnership of 148 runs and then the series of centuries started. Iredale made a total of 118, Noble added 153, Gregory scored 168, Duff added 119 and Poidevin made an unbeaten score of 140 runs. This match lasted for 208 overs and the innings of 556 minutes left everyone stunned. The atmosphere of the pitch that day was such that it seemed as if the NSW team was not ordinary but had itself become the Power Rangers team. They had put up a huge challenge of 918 runs in front of the South Australian team. But the SOA did not even perform well in the second innings and the entire team was all out for only 156 runs. Not only the batsmen but NSW’s bowlers also performed well, Jack Marsh took 2 five-wicket hauls in both innings, while Trumper and Hopkins also took 3 wickets each.

On This Day, January 8, 2018 - South Africa vs India 18-Wickets in A Day

The fourth day of the first Test between India and South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town on 8 January 2018 was etched in history, when 18 wickets fell in a single day. After the third day's play was washed out due to rain, the pitch on the fourth day became a paradise for fast bowlers. South Africa collapsed like a pack of cards in the second innings and was bundled out for just 130 runs in front of the lethal spell from the Indian bowlers, especially Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, who took 3 wickets each in this innings. After South Africa's second innings, India got a target of 208 runs to win.

In India's second innings, the South African bowlers also hit back hard, with Vernon Philander wreaking havoc in full swing. He delivered the best performance of his career, taking 6 wickets for just 42 runs in 15.4 overs with 4 maiden overs. The entire Indian batting order was completely overwhelmed by his accurate line and length. India was restricted to 135 runs and South Africa won the match by 72 runs. In this match, Indian wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha also set a new Indian record of taking 10 catches in a Test. This day is still remembered as a prime example of bowlers' complete dominance in Test cricket and exciting low-scoring matches.

On This Day - January 8, 2018 - Australia Regains the Ashes 4-0

The day of 8th January 2018 witnessed two big events in the history of cricket, which included South Africa vs India as well as the final test of the Ashes series between Australia and England played at the Sydney ground. Australia defeated England by a huge margin of an innings and 123 runs in the fifth test and captured the series 4-0 and regained the Ashes trophy after 2014. Australian players delivered a brilliant performance in this match. Batsman Usman Khawaja played a brilliant inning of 171 runs, while Pat Cummins took 4-4 wickets in both innings and also scored 24* runs. England won the toss and elected to bat first, scoring 346 runs, then Australia scored 649 runs in their first innings. Along with Khawaja’s outstanding scores, Shaun Marsh scored and Mitchell Marsh also played a brilliant innings of 156 and 101 runs.

The England team could not face the Australian bowlers in the second innings and was all out for just 180 runs. Captain Steve Smith scored a total of 687 runs in the entire series and was named Man of the Series, while Pat Cummins was chosen as Man of the Match for his brilliant deliveries and runs. This victory in Sydney not only confirmed Australia's victory to win back the Ashes on home ground, but it also brought disappointment back to the England team. Captain Joe Root had to leave the field in the last moments of the match due to illness. Australia's 4-0 victory showed that the performance of their team was much better than England's.

On This Day - January 8, 2019 - New Zealand Whitewashes Sri Lanka

On 8 January 2019, New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by 115 runs in the third ODI at Saxton Oval in Nelson and completed a 3-0 clean sweep of the three-match series. The real hero of this match was veteran batsman Ross Taylor, who played a brilliant innings of 137 runs and also completed his 20th ODI century. Henry Nicholls also scored his first ODI century with an unbeaten 124 runs, and helped New Zealand set a huge score of 364/4 in 50 overs.

While chasing the target, the Sri Lankan team crumbled under pressure and was all out for just 249 runs in 41.4 overs. Thisara Perera top-scored for Sri Lanka with 80 runs, but he was ineffective against the New Zealand bowlers. Lockie Ferguson took 4/40 and Ish Sodhi took 3 wickets to dismantle the Sri Lankan middle and lower order. New Zealand proved their complete dominance with this victory in their home ground and completed the series with a clean sweep. 

On This Day - January 8, 1981 - Greg Chappell Crushed India in Melbourne

Greg Chappell delivered the best bowling performance by an Australian captain in an ODI between India and Australia at the Melbourne Ground on this day in 1981. Chappell was an exceptional all-rounder who devastated India with his bowling and batting in the 9th match of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup. He took 5 wickets for just 15 runs, including crucial wickets of captain Sunil Gavaskar and Roger Binny. This became the best bowling figures of his ODI career and also the best bowling performance by an Australian captain in an ODI at that time.

The Indian team was bundled out for just 63 runs in the first inning due to this outstanding performance. Chappell dismissed Binny for 16, Captain Gavaskar for 1, Yashpal Sharma for 6, Karsan Ghavri for 1 and Dilip Doshi for just 2 runs in 9.5 overs. Then in the second innings, Australia easily achieved the target given by India, in which Chappell played an innings of 33 runs. India's all-rounder Kapil Dev took the wicket of opener Graeme Wood in this match for 11 runs. This performance went down in cricket history as a rare example of a batsman turning the tables of a match with the ball and Chappell was named Man of the Match for his performance.