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Atherton takes control

Wisden CricInfo staff

August 5, 2003

All Today's Yesterdays - August 5 down the years

August 4| August 6

1993
On his first day as England captain, Mike Atherton top-scored with 72 at Edgbaston,­ but it was soon the same old story as Australia went on to win the Test and the series.

1965
A superb innings of 125 by Graeme Pollock, full of classical strokes still shown on television today, set South Africa on the way to winning the Trent Bridge Test and eventually the series, their last in England for 29 years.

1966
A hundred between lunch and tea by Garry Sobers set up the victory at Headingley that won West Indies a series he dominated with bat, ball and coin. He scored 722 runs at 103.14, took 20 wickets, and won all five tosses.

1969
Birth of Indian pace bowler Venkatesh Prasad, who was often Javagal Srinath's partner with the new ball. He took five wickets in each innings against South Africa at Durban in 1996-97, and his five victims in a World Cup match against Pakistan at Old Trafford in 1999 were all big names - Salim Malik, Saeed Anwar, Moin Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Wasim Akram.

1972
Pace bowler Aaqib Javed was born. He played in his first one-day international at 16, made his Test debut at 17, and helped Pakistan beat England in the 1992 World Cup final, in which he conceded only 27 runs in 10 overs and took the wickets of Alec Stewart and Neil Fairbrother. His 7 for 37 against India at Sharjah in 1991-92 set record ODI figures which lasted until Muttiah Muralitharan's 7 for 30 against the same opposition at the same venue in 2000-01.

1921
Birth of Nazar Mohammad, who scored Pakistan's first Test century, carrying his bat against India at Lucknow in 1952-53. His son Mudassar Nazar also played prominently for Pakistan - they are the only father-and-son combination to carry their bat through a completed Test innings.

1866
Successful Test captain Harry Trott was born. He led Australia to a 4-1 win over England in 1897-98. His only Test century was an heroic knock, 143 at Lord's in 1896 after Australia had been dismissed for only 53 in the first innings. He also took 29 wickets and 21 catches in his 24 Tests. His flamboyant brother Albert also played Test cricket.

1965
Birth of Maruti Sridhar, whose innings of 366 for Hyderabad v Andhra Pradesh in 1993-94 is in the alltime top 20 in first-class cricket.

1944
Double international Maurice Turnbull died. He scored some valuable Test runs for England, including his only fifty, 61 at Johannesburg in 1930-31. He was also an international rugby scrum-half, one of seven new caps who helped Wales beat England in 1933.

Other birthdays
1961 Athula Samarasekera (Sri Lanka)
1962 Richard de Groen (New Zealand)
1969 Vasbert Drakes (West Indies)
1973 Sanwar Hossain (Bangladesh)

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