1998: England celebrated winning the second test by 3 wickets against the Windies at Tirinidad. The West Indies set England a target of 225 in the fourth innings after a heroic performance by pacer Angus Fraser who took nine wickets to wreck the Windies batting line-up. England’s Mark Butcher and Dean Headley got their team to the target in a nail biting finish which was ably supported by Alec Stewart’s 83.

1982: A big day for Sri Lanka as it became the eighth Test-playing nation today when it played it’s one-off test in Colombo against England. Sri Lanka made a good fist of it too: England only managed a first-innings lead of five, and with Sri Lanka 167 for 3 in their second innings, things were getting interesting. Then John Emburey broke the habit of a lifetime and took five wickets. England won the test by seven wickets. An 18-year-old cherubic Sri Lankan player by the name of Arjuna Ranatunga also made his debut in the Sri Lankan side, and made 54 in the first innings.

1976: New Zealand’s first innings victory where India were the victims at Wellington, with Richard Hadlee taking 4 for 35 and then 7 for 23 as India were bowled out for 220 and 81. This was also the last Test of Ken Wadsworth’s career: he extended the national wicket keeping record for dismissals to 96, but six months later he died of cancer at the age of 29.

1973: New Zealand opener Rodney Redmond, who made a blistering two-hour 107 today in his first Test innings, against Pakistan at Auckland. He added 56 in the second innings to complete an outstanding debut, but the dream soon turned into a nightmare: Redmond never played a Test again. He toured England the following summer, but due his new contact lenses problem the Kiwi selectors preferred him as a mere traveler on the tour.