1 March
# ACHIEVEMENTS / HISTORIC EVENTS
1921 – The first-ever Ashes Test cricket whitewash. Australia finish it in Sydney today with another comprehensive victory; this time by nine wickets
1955 – Pakistan and India finished off their first five-Test series to be drawn 0-0 with a rain-affected stalemate in Karachi
1958 – The 21-year-old Garry Sobers turned his maiden Test century into a stunning 365 not out at Sabina Park, beating by one run the previous highest score in Test cricket, Len Hutton’s 364 against Australia in 1938
Garry Sobers, 21, during his historic knock of 365 not out at Sabina Park in 1958
1980 – “Boom boom” Shahid Afridi, who scored One-Day International (ODI) century off 37 balls in his debut at the age of 16, against Sri Lanka in Kenya, is born
Shahid Afridi during his world-record 37-ball hundred against Sri Lanka in Nairobi
# UNUSUAL
1965 – Australian swimming authorities suspend triple Olympic-gold-medal winning sprinter Dawn Fraser for 10 years for misconduct at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics
1992 – Pakistan were routed for 74 runs by England on a sweaty track in Adelaide during the World Cup, but rain washed out the match giving Pakistan one point that was the difference between qualification for the semi-finals and an early exit. They went on to win the World Cup that time under Imran Khan!
# BIRTHS
1918 – Birth of Ceylonese hurdler Duncan White, the first Olympic medallist from Sri Lanka, then Ceylon – a silver medal in men’s 400 m hurdles in 1948 in London
1953 – Sri Lanka’s first Test cricket Captain Bandula Warnapura is born today
Sanjeewa Weerasinghe with his family in Australia
1968 – Birth of Sri Lanka’s youngest Test cricketer Sanjeewa Weerasinghe
2 March
# ACHIEVEMENTS / HISTORIC EVENTS
1992 – American swimmer Anita Hall breaks the 200 m breaststroke world record twice in one day
1996 – In Delhi, Sri Lanka massacre India by six wickets in a cricket World Cup Group game, chasing 272 to win. The match is remembered for Sanath Jayasuriya’s thundering 79 which prompted retirement of Indo fast-bowler Manoj Prabhakar from the game as he went for 33 runs in two overs and 47 in his four
The dejected Indians after the 1996 World Cup Group game against Sri Lanka in Delhi
2008 – India beat South Africa in the final to win the 2008 Under-19 cricket World Cup in Malaysia
2011 – Ireland batter Kevin O’Brien smoked the fastest hundred in World Cup history, off 50 balls, against the old enemy, England
2019 – New Zealand’s highest Test total, 715/6 declared, comes on this day in Hamilton against Bangladesh
2019 – Roger Federer beats Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4 in Dubai to win his 100th Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour title
# UNUSUAL
1974 – Australia batter Greg Chappell cracks a Test-best 247 not out and 133 in a Test in Wellington. His elder brother made 145 and 121 making it the only instance of brothers scoring a hundred in both innings of a first-class match
In 1974, Australia’s Greg (on left) and Ian Chappell became the only brothers to score centuries on both innings in a Test
# BIRTHS
1964 – Birth of American surfer Laird Hamilton, the co-inventor of tow-in surfing. He holds the records for the heaviest wave ever ridden successfully
1977 – Birth of former England cricket Captain Andrew Strauss
Fast-bowler Darshana Gamage who played for Sri Lanka in 2003 in 43 today
1979 – Birth of Sri Lankan seam bowler Dharshana Gamage
