1877 - Birth arguably England’s best-ever all-rounder Wilfred Rhodes. He started his Test career at No. 11 and ended up opening the batting, and a slow left-armer. Rhodes was the oldest man to play Test cricket, at 52 years, 165 days in West Indies in 1929-30, and the only man to have a Test career spanning more than 30 years (1899-1930). He took a record 4,187 first-class wickets, at a cost of only 16.71 apiece. His finest Test moments came in Melbourne: in 1903-04 he took 15 for 124, and eight years later he matched Jack Hobbs’ run for run in an opening partnership of 323, England’s highest in Ashes Tests. He lost his eyesight in later life, and died in Dorset in 1973 [caption id="attachment_170396" align="alignnone" width="277"] Arguably England’s best-ever all-rounder Wilfred Rhodes[/caption] 1946 - Birth of Ceylon/Sri Lanka cricket Captain Anura Tennekoon. He was a regular member of the Sri Lanka side in the years before Sri Lanka achieved Test status and was widely regarded as one of their great batsmen. His only expose to top-flight cricket came during the 1975 and 1979 World Cups, where he acquitted himself well after a duck on his debut against West Indies. From 2000 to 2003 he was chief executive of the Sri Lankan board [caption id="attachment_170397" align="alignnone" width="356"] Happy birthday Anura Tennekoon![/caption] 1960 - Cassius Clay’s (Muhammad Ali) first professional fight where he beat Tunney Hunsaker on points in six rounds in Louisville, Kentucky 1970 - Birth Dutch football goal-keeper Edwin van der Sar. He is considered to be a member of the Ajax’s golden generation and was part of the Ajax team that won the UEFA Champions League in 1995. He left Ajax for Juventus in 1999, where he spent two years before moving to England, first to Fulham and then to Manchester United in 2005. There he won a second Champions League title in 2008, making him one of just eight players at the time to have won the competition with more than one club [caption id="attachment_170398" align="alignnone" width="357"] Birth Dutch Football goal-keeper Edwin van der Sar[/caption] 1971 - Birth of Australian opening bat Matthew Hayden. He was seen as a destroyer on good tracks but short of that, certain something at the top level. All that changed in 2001, when he cracked 549 runs in India, followed by runs galore against England and South Africa. More was to come. Against Zimbabwe in Perth in 2003, Hayden smashed 380 in quick time, breaking Brian Lara’s then record of 375 in five sessions. A key part of Australia’s dominance in the 2000s was the prolific partnership Hayden formed with Justin Langer at the top of the order; the pair added more than 6,000 Test runs together. Three consecutive hundreds in 2007-08 pushed Hayden’s century count beyond Don Bradman’s! 1974 - Birth of former England cricket Captain Michael Vaughan. In 23 Tests before the start of the Ashes series in 2002-03, he averaged a healthy 47.5. He had a very successful home series against India in 2002 as an opening bat, during which he also made his career-best 197, and confirmed himself as a natural successor to Mike Atherton. In Australia in 2002-03, Vaughan averaged 63.3 and stroked three hundreds. After Nasser Hussain quit midway through the home series against South Africa, Vaughan took over and impressed by drawing the series from 2-1 down heading into the final Test. His pinnacle came in 2005 when he led England to their Ashes triumph 2000 - A one-day thrashing. In the Champions Trophy final in Sharjah, Sri Lanka pummelled India by a staggering 245 runs, one of the biggest wins in One-Day International cricket history. Sanath Jayasuriya went berserk, slamming 189 off 161 balls with 21 fours and four sixes. It equalled the second-highest individual score in a one-dayer, made by Viv Richards against England in 1984. Venkatesh Prasad took the most flak, with his seven overs disappearing for 73. As if that wasn’t bad enough, India then collapsed for 54, their lowest ODI total. Only Robin Singh reached double figures, with Chaminda Vaas taking 5/14 and Muttiah Muralitharan 3/6 [caption id="attachment_170399" align="alignnone" width="454"] In the Champions Trophy final:  Sri Lanka beat India by a staggering 245 runs[/caption] 2017 - British Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton finished a distant ninth in Mexican Grand Prix at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez but, it was good enough to clinch his fourth Formula-1 World Drivers’ Championship 2017 - Danish tennis star Caroline Wozniacki beats American Venus Williams 6-4, 6-4 to win the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals title-decider in Kallang, Singapore 2018 - Golden State shooting guard Klay Thompson broke the National Basketball League (NBA) record, previously held by team-mate Stephen Curry for most three-pointers in a game with 14 in Warriors’ 149-124 win over the Bulls in Chicago