1939 - Birth of England’s most famous female cricketer. Rachael Heyhoe-Flint hit the first six in women’s Test history - against Australia at The Oval in 1963 - and was a fine batsman and Captain of her country. But her real contribution came in bringing women’s cricket into the public eye. She helped organise the inaugural World Cup in 1973 - and then lifted the trophy when England won it. A year earlier she had been awarded the MBE

[caption id="attachment_142104" align="alignnone" width="300"] Rachael Heyhoe-Flint, a pioneer in women’s cricket[/caption]

1927 - Pelham Warner made the first ball-by-ball radio broadcast from Lord’s on the first day of the match between Middlesex and Nottinghamshire. The BBC had asked for a perch in the pavilion, but instead were stuck next to the clock at the Nursery End

1942 - In the age before Muralitharan, D.S. de Silva, who was born today, was probably Sri Lanka’s best and longest-serving spin bowler. Leg-spinner Dandeniyage Somachandra de Silva was 39 when Sri Lanka played their inaugural Test (in 1982). He was the first to take a five-for (5/59) in Tests for Sri Lanka, against Pakistan in Faisalabad in March 1982 in a game drawn in favour of Sri Lanka

[caption id="attachment_142105" align="alignnone" width="384"] D.S. de Silva was Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Interim Committee Chairman during 2009-11[/caption]

1971 - New Zealand’s efficient, un-fussy opener Mark Richardson was born today. When Richardson began his first-class career with Auckland, he was a left-arm spinner who batted No. 10. But after sometime, he concentrated on his batting to increasingly good effect. He was 30 when he made his Test debut and scored 99 only in his second Test

1975 - Birth of Mithra Wettimuny. He made his two Test appearances for Sri Lanka against New Zealand in 1983. In the first of these games, he opened the innings with his younger brother Sidath, only the third instance of two brothers opening together in Test cricket. Mithra passed away in 2019, aged 67

[caption id="attachment_142106" align="alignnone" width="248"] Mithra was one of the famous Wettimuny brothers, along with Sunil and Sidath[/caption]

1989 - Birth of the youngest male tennis player to win a Grand Slam. Michael Chang won the French Open beating Stefan Edberg when he was only 17 years and 110 days old

[caption id="attachment_142107" align="alignnone" width="362"] Michael Chang, 17 here, the youngest male to win a Grand Slam tennis title[/caption]