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Last day for a languid hero
Wisden Cricinfo staff
August 9, 2003
All Today's Yesterdays - August 9 down the years
August 8 | August 10
1992
The last day of Test cricket for David Gower, bowled for 1 by Waqar Younis in the second innings as Pakistan won by ten wickets at The Oval to take the series 2-1. In the previous two Tests, Gower had scored 73 and 31 not out - so there seemed to be something personal in Graham Gooch's decision not to take him to India that winter, an omission that did England no good. Gower's languidly brilliant shotmaking brought him 8231 Test runs, an England record broken shortly afterwards by ... Gooch himself.
1991
The day Ian Botham "just, just couldn't quite get his leg over". Botham's hit-wicket dismissal against West Indies at The Oval sparked that comment from Jonathan Agnew, and a fit of hysterics in the Test Match Special box as Agnew and Brian Johnston fought an irresistible attack of the giggles. Johnston was still fighting for composure long after Agnew had given up the ghost, and the exchange has been replayed time and time again since.
1977
As well as taking 143 Test wickets for England, Chris Old could bat a bit, as he showed in hammering a century in only 37 minutes for Yorkshire v Warwickshire at Edgbaston. He hit six sixes and 13 fours and scored his second fifty in only nine minutes.
1976
In a typically powerful and merciless assault, West Indies captain Clive Lloyd scored an unbeaten 201 against Glamorgan at Swansea. Wisden called it "the fastest double century since Gilbert Jessop's days in 1903". In the next match of the tour, Lloyd's side completed a 3-0 series win over England.
1944
Birth of Terry Jenner, a Test legspinner who was best known for being hit on the head by England fast bowler John Snow at Sydney in 1970-71 but made a genuine contribution to Test cricket by recognising and nurturing the talent of Shane Warne.
1965
Hostile fast bowler Peter Pollock completed his second five-wicket haul of the match to win the Trent Bridge Test. It was South Africa's last Test victory in England until 1994.
1926
Birth of Denis Atkinson, who took 47 Test wickets but is best remembered for his only Test hundred. Facing an Australian total of 668 at Bridgetown in 1954-55, West Indies were 146 for 7 when Atkinson was joined by Clairmonte Depeiza. Their stand of 347 was a record for the seventh wicket in first-class cricket. Atkinson scored 219 then took 5 for 65 to become the first to do that double in Tests. His brother Eric also played Test cricket.
1946
Death of Ernie Vogler, one of the quartet of South African googly bowlers who toured England in 1907. The following winter, he took all ten wickets in an innings for Eastern Province - and his 36 wickets helped win the 1909-10 series against England. As far as Wisden can discover, he was the first batsman to be dismissed for a king pair in Test cricket, at Sydney in 1910-11. Some modern sources call him Bert - but one of his contemporaries, BJT Bosanquet the inventor of the googly, referred to him as Ernest.
Other birthdays
1897 Ted Badcock (New Zealand)
1902 Edward "Nobby" Clark (England)
1911 Khurshed Meher-Homji (India)
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