The smoothness of steel

Wisden Cricinfo staff

August 7, 2003

All Today's Yesterdays - August 7 down the years

August 6 | August 8

1948
Birth of one of the great Test batsmen. Greg Chappell's 7110 Test runs were scored at an average of 53.86 and with a smoothness that disguised his competitive steel. His on-drive was one of the great shots. He and his brother Ian both captained Australia with plenty of success.

1971
Feisty England seamer Dominic Cork was born. He took 7 for 43 in his debut Test at Lord's, against West Indies in 1995, and his hat-trick later in the series was the first by an England bowler in a Test since Peter Loader in 1957.

1987
Master batsman Javed Miandad completed one of his six double-centuries in Test cricket. During his 260 at The Oval he became the first to score 6000 Test runs for Pakistan, whose total of 708, their highest ever, was more than enough to draw the match and clinch the series.

1998
A third consecutive five-wicket haul by the big-hearted seamer Angus Fraser at Headingley kept South Africa's first-innings lead down to 22. England went on to win a low-scoring match and take the series 2-1.

1973
Death of a great allrounder. Jack Gregory's fast bowling terrorised England's batsmen in the early 1920s - and he still holds two major Test records: a century in 70 minutes at Johannesburg in 1921-22, and 15 catches in the 1920-21 series against England.

1965
Two of fast bowler Peter Pollock's ten wickets left England on 10 for 2 at the end of the day, facing defeat in the decisive Trent Bridge Test against South Africa.

1879
One of South Africa's fastest bowlers was born. JJ "Kodgee" Kotze took only six Test wickets at 40.50, but most of the bowling was done by googly bowlers at the time. His long run-up and strong body action frightened a lot of batsmen and he could maintain his pace for long spells. He did the hat-trick twice and took 8 for 18 for Western Province v Griqualand West in 1902-03.

1937
England slow left-armer Don Wilson was born. He played in only six Tests (1963-64 to 1970-71) but took 1189 first-class wickets before becoming the MCC's head coach at Lord's.

Other birthdays
1959 Ali Shah (Zimbabwe)

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