June 09 2012 ... Day's Play

June 09 2012 ... Day's Play

1983 -- Zimbabwe of register a shock victory (their 1st ODI) over Australia by 13 runs at the Prudential World Cup at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Duncan Fletcher who captained the side was the man of the match with all round performance scoring an unbeaten 69 and taking 4 wickets for 42 runs.

1908 -- Birthday of G Harry 'Bull' Alexander  fast bowler from Australia. He played played only one Test match in the infamous 'Bodyline' series in 1932-33 between Ashes rivals, which happened to be the last Test played by the legendary Harold Larwood the main 'villain' as per the Aussies.

1937 -- Birthday of  West Indian S C Stayers, fast bowler who played against India in the 1962 series. Also he bowled for Bombay in the Ranji Trophy later. This was part of an experiment by BCCI wherein fast bowlers from West Indies played in local tournaments to make Indian batsmen familiar and confident against playing pacemen. Apparently the experiment did not succeed.

1942 -- Birthday of  Richard Hutton, of England. Batsman son of the all time great Sir Len Hutton, Richard played five Test matches against Pakistan and India in 1971.

1972 -- Birthday of Bryan Strang  of Zimbabwe. Left arm fast bowler who played 26 Test matches and 49 ODIs. His career was curtailed owing to the political turmoil in Zimbabwe.

1975 -- Birthday of Andrew Andrew Symonds of Ausitralia. All-rounder who left his mark both on the field and off the field too. Raw talent who ran into trouble with the authorities constantly. Symonds represented Australia in 26 Tests, 198 ODIs and 93 T20 matches, He also represented Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians in the IPL.