Cricket Timeframes – Births: Feb 1-14
Born February 1, 1981: Graeme Smith, champion opening batsman and most successful captain of South Africa, who walked out to save a match with a broken hand
Born February 1, 1982: Shoaib Malik, the Pakistani all-rounder and captain with a curiously long and chequered career, with a high-profile cross-border cross-sport match
Born February 3, 1936: Bobby Simpson, one of the greatest opening batsmen of the game, a superb captain and successful coach
Born February 3, 1851: Lord Harris, former England captain and administrator, who believed counties should be represented by players of limited zip codes (psst … he himself was born in Trinidad)
Born February 5, 1889: Patsy Hendren, legendary fun-loving character, brilliant batsman, and experimented with a three-peak rubber helmet in the 1930s.
Born February 5, 1990: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the swing bowling weapon in the Indian pace arsenal.
Born February 6, 1931: Fred Trueman, in his own words: “’Finest Bloody Fast Bowler that Ever Drew Breath”
Born February 6, 1873: Albert Trott, the Australian all-rounder who was neglected by his country and became a Middlesex legend
Born February 7, 1857: Alfred Lyttlelton, double international who went on to become a successful politician. One cap for England in football, four in cricket, played as a wicketkeeper, picked up 4 for 17 the only time he bowled in a Test match, all wickets with lobs.
Born February 8, 1963: Mohammad Azharuddin, a magician with the bat and even more so in the field.
Born February 9, 1970: Glenn McGrath, a metronome with the ball, perhaps the greatest pace bowler of his generation
Born February 9, 1922: Jim Laker, the man who captured 19 wickets in a Test match and celebrated with a beer and sandwich. Perhaps the greatest off-spinner of all time.
Born February 10, 1847: AN ‘Monkey’ Hornby, the Lancashire legend and captain of England in the Birth of The Ashes Test.
Born February 11, 1937: Bill Lawry, the famous corpse with pads on, one of the greatest opening batsmen of Australia. The Lawry-Simpson combination remains one of the best in the history of cricket.
Born February 12, 1857: Bobby Peel, the man who bowled Australia out after being held under a shower.
Born February 12, 1949: Gundappa Viswanath, the littlest master of India, one of the most universally loved cricketers and an artist with the willow
Born February 13, 1842: Ted Pooley, the superb wicketkeeper who did not keep in the first ever Test match because he was in jail for cricket-betting related problems.
Text: Arunabha Sengupta
Illustration : Maha
Also read: Cricket Timeframes: Births and Deaths January 1-15
