12 July

1943 - Whatever he did in 30 Tests, New Zealand all-rounder Bruce Taylor, who was born today, will always be remembered for his startling debut. In Calcutta in 1964-65, Taylor belted a meaty 105 from No. 8 --his maiden first-class century-- and then took 5/86 in India’s first innings. He is still the only man to make a century and take a five-for on Test debut

[caption id="attachment_149142" align="alignnone" width="277"] Bruce Taylor during a practice session in Bombay in September 1969. The only player to have scored a century and taken a five-wicket haul on Test debut, Taylor passed away in February aged 77[/caption]

1991 - Colombian footballer James Rodríguez was born today in Cúcuta, Colombia. He played for major clubs Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and currently playing for Everton. In 2014, James moved from AS Monaco to Real Madrid for a transfer fee of £ 63 million (), which beat the one set by Radamel Falcao and made him the most expensive Colombian football player

1996 - The day cricket showed a bit of leg. The first Super 8s tournament began in Kuala Lumpur. In short, it involved eight-a-side matches of 14 overs, in which a six was rewarded with eight runs, and batters had to retire upon reaching 50. Australia ‘A’, led by Darren Lehmann and including Adam Gilchrist, won it, and Australia and India ended without points. India even lost to a Malaysian Invitation XI. Mind you, the Malaysian side did include Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva, who had done pretty well in a slightly bigger one-day tournament earlier that year

[caption id="attachment_149146" align="alignnone" width="357"] Aravinda de Silva at the first Super 8s cricket tournament which began in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1996[/caption]

1998 - France defeats Brazil 3-0 to win the 1998 FIFA World Cup. France won the match 3-0 to claim their maiden World Cup. Zinedine Zidane, who was named Man of the Match, scored twice before half-time and Emmanuel Petit added a third goal in the last minute

2014 - The highest tenth-wicket stand in Test history. Joe Root and James Anderson broke the back of India’s bowling line-up with their 198-run partnership in the draw at Trent Bridge. With England on 298/9, India must have fancied their chances of a rare Test victory overseas, but Anderson batted comfortably to reach his maiden half-century --in any form of the game-- and his 81 is the highest score by an England No. 11

The highest 10th wicket stand in Test history between Joe Root (on right) and James Anderson, who shared 198 runs in a drawn match at Trent Bridge in 2014  13 July

1886 - William Renshaw beats Herbert Lawford for the third straight year 6-0, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 for his sixth consecutive Wimbledon championship. He is the only player to do so in history of tennis

1930 - First-ever football World Cup competition begins in Uruguay. FIFA selected Uruguay as host nation, as the country was celebrating the Centenary of its first constitution. In the final, hosts and pre-tournament favourites Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 to become the first nation to win the World Cup

[caption id="attachment_149154" align="alignnone" width="455"] Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 to become the first nation to win the football World Cup on 13 July, 1886[/caption]

1948 - Birth of Norwegian rower Alf Hansen. At the 1957 World Rowing Championships in Nottingham, the Hansen brothers won the world championship title in the double sculls. In 1976, the brothers won a gold medal at the Montreal Olympic Games in the same boat class

1974 - On this day at Headingley, India played their first ODI, the last of the (then) six Test-playing nations to do so. They put up a decent fight, equalling the then-highest innings total (265) before John Edrich (90 off 97 balls) and Tony Greig (40 off 28) thumped England to a four-wicket victory

1984 - Francois du Plessis, or Faf, born today, made his ODI debut in the home series against India in 2010-11 and played in the World Cup soon after. But it was in Test cricket that du Plessis made his name, as a batter who could hunker down under pressure: on debut in Adelaide in 2012, he batted over 11 hours (across two innings) and scored a century at No. 7 to save the Test

2014 - American Mo Martin wins her first major title, one shot ahead of runners-up Shanshan Feng and Suzann Pettersen in the British Open Women’s golf

[caption id="attachment_149155" align="alignnone" width="357"] Simona Halep, the first Romanian to win a Wimbledon singles title[/caption]

2019 - Simona Halep beats Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2 in just 55 minutes to become the first Romanian to win a Wimbledon singles title