on this day
1964
Winston Benjamin, who was born today, had the bit of devil that marked out many of his West Indian peers as great fast bowlers, but he only ever really attained the ranks of the good. Short and whippy, in 21 Tests (spread over nearly eight years) he never took a five-for and never took the new ball. He could give the ball a fearful thump - he smeared a run-a-ball 85 off New Zealand in 1994-95 - and he even won a Test with the bat, scoring a crucial 40 not out in series-levelling two-wicket win over Pakistan in Barbados in 1987-88, which preserved West Indies status as the worlds best.
1986
Birth of Bangladesh middle-order batsman and part-time offspinner Naeem Islam, who got his break in the national side in 2008, when several Bangladeshi players defected to the ICL. He went through a lean patch in 2009 but the selectors persisted with him and he went on to make his maiden one-day half-century at the end of the year, and to play in the 2011 World Cup as well. Naeem made his first Test hundred in 2012, against West Indies in Dhaka, but Bangladesh lost the match.
1995
Australian Test opener Matthew Elliott achieved the very rare feat of completing two first-class hundreds on the same day, carrying his bat for 104 in the first innings and then scoring 135 in the second as Victoria followed on against Western Australia in Perth.
