1932

One of the all-time greats was born, but one who didn’t always seem to know it. Despite all his achievements and the sumptuous quality of his batting, Colin Cowdrey was forever experimenting with his grip or retreating into his shell - and his captaincy of England was sometimes indecisive. But let’s not dwell on that side of things. The first player to appear in 100 Tests, he celebrated the occasion with a century against Australia in Edgbaston in 1968 despite pulling a leg muscle. At one stage Cowdrey had scored more Test runs than any other batsman, and his recall to face the venom of Lillee and Thomson in 1974-75 showed the respect he still commanded at the age of 42.

1927

When Sir Colin set that new record for most Test runs, he broke the record set by Wally Hammond, who made his Test debut today in Johannesburg in 1927-28. One of the very greatest batsmen of all time, Hammond scored 51 before showing another string to his bow by taking 5 for 36 in the second innings to bowl England to a ten-wicket win. Eleven years later to the day in Johannesburg he became the first man to reach 6000 Test runs.