Cricket Timeframes – Births and Deaths: Jan 16-31
Born January 17, 1925: Abdul Hafeez Kardar, the first captain of Pakistan, a charismatic Oxford-educated figure who also played for India
Born January 17, 1926: Clyde Walcott, the great West Indian batsman and later ICC administrator; one of the famed Three Ws.
Born January 19, 1922: Arthur Morris, a member of Bradman’s Invincibles, whom the great man considered one of the greatest openers of all time
Born January 20, 1895: Frank Chester, widely accepted to be the greatest umpire in the history of the game
Born January 21, 1888: Herbie Collins, Australian stalwart opening batsman and captain, nicknamed Horseshoe because of his supposed luck.
Born January 25, 1988: Cheteshwar Pujara, the Indian middle-order stalwart who may well end up to be the best No 3 ever produced by the country.
Born January 26, 1954: Kim Hughes, former captain of Australia who could look great with the bat when in full flow
Born January 27, 1974: Chaminda Vaas, the first world class pace bowler to be produced by Sri Lanka.
Born January 27, 1979: Daniel Vettori, perhaps the greatest spinner produced by New Zealand, who was more than a decent batsman as well.
Born January 28, 1873: Monty Noble, great Australian all-rounder and captain, one of the pioneers of swing bowling who could bat in the top order with elan.
Born January 29, 1951 : Andy Roberts, the first of the West Indian fast bowlers of the 1970s and 1980s who went on to rule the world
Born January 30, 1929: Hugh Tayfield, the South African off-spinner, among the top three greatest tweaker of that variety alongside Jim Laker and Muttiah Muralitharan
Born January 30, 1990: Mitchell Starc, the latest among the long line of formidable Australian spearheads.
Born January 31, 1889: Frank Foster, left-arm pacer who formed a formidable partnership with the great SF Barnes for England and an all-round great for Warwickshire
Died January 16, 1907: Alfred Shaw, the man who bowled the first ball in Test cricket, captained England and was the driving force behind quite a few of the early cricket tours.
Died January 19, 2004: David Hookes, the talented Australian batsman, who perished tragically at the age of 48 after being punched by a bar-room bouncer
Died January 20, 1954: Fred Root, Derbyshire, Worcestershire and England medium pacer, who played 22 years of First-Class cricket and wrote the brilliant A Cricket Pro’s Lot
Died January 22, 1978: Herbery Sutcliffe, one of the greatest opening batsmen to grace the game, who formed a supreme association with Jack Hobbs
Died January 28, 1965: Tich Freeman, the 5’2″ leg-spinner who took 66 wickets for England and a whopping 3776 in First-Class cricket.
Died January 30, 1963: Plum Warner, the grand old man of English cricket, popular Ashes winning captain and controversial manager during the Bodyline series, legendary administrator
Text: Arunabha Sengupta
Illustration : Maha
Also read: Cricket Timeframes: Births and Deaths January 1-15
