5 November:
1873 - Birth of renowned Australian athlete Edwin Flack who won Olympic gold for 800 m and 1,500 m in 1896
1901 - Birth of English batter Eddie Paynter who made his Test debut at 29 and averaged a mighty 84 - a figure no other Englishman approaches - playing in 20 matches
1952 - Birth of American basketball legend Bill Walton
1971 - LA Lakers starts a 33-game consecutive victory streak
1964 - Death of the only animal to receive a Wisden Almanack obituary. Peter the cat was a popular cricket watcher at Lord’s - where he spent 12 of his 14 years - and his ninth life ended on this day. His obituary said that “his sleek, black form could often be seen prowling on the field of play when the crowds were biggest”
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Only animal to receive a Wisden Almanack obituary, Peter the cat[/caption]
1984 - Birth of Kenyan distance runner Eliud Kipchoge who won Olympic marathon gold in 2016 and 2020 (2021) and became the first to finish under 2:00
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Kenyan distance runner Eliud Kipchoge[/caption]
1982 - Cleveland Cavaliers lose National Basketball Association (NBA) record of 24 consecutive games
1988 - Birth of current Indian cricket Captain Virat Kohli
1989 - French McLaren driver Alain Prost withdrew early in wet Australian Grand Prix but wins his third Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship
1991 - Birth West Indian all rounder Jason Holder, who became their Captain at the age of 23
1992 - Australian left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen, born today, took a match-winning 3/25 in the 2012 Women’s T20 World Cup final against England in Colombo
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Aus left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen[/caption]
6 November:
1861 - Birth of James A Naismith, the inventor of basketball who passed away in 1939
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James A Naismith, the inventor of basketball[/caption]
1869 - First intercollegiate American football game is played in New Brunswick, New Jersey (Rutgers College 6, Princeton University 4)
1956 - Holland and Spain withdraw from Olympics, protest Soviets in Hungary
1956 - Birth of Graeme Wood, Australia’s compact left-hand opener renowned for his stubborn determination and eccentric running
1979 - At Montevideo, Uruguay, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) adopts a resolution, whereby Taiwan Olympic and sports teams will participate with the name Chinese Taipei in future Olympics Games and international sports tournaments and championships
1994 - Sri Lanka win cricket One-Day International series against Zimbabwe 2-1 in Harare with a thumping 191-run victory, then Sri Lanka’s biggest win in terms of runs
2018 - Zimbabwe’s first win in an away cricket Test in 17 years, and only their third overseas Test win overall, comes in Sylhet, against Bangladesh