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When Trumble made 'em tumble
Rob Smyth
May 12, 2003
All Today's Yesterdays - May 12 down the years
1867
Birth of the first man to take two Test hat-tricks. Australian offspinner Hugh Trumble managed them both on his home ground at Melbourne - and both against England too, in 1901-02 and 1903-04. An extremely tall man who made the ball rip spitefully on wet wickets, Trumble's finest performance came in defeat, when he took 12 for 89 against England at The Oval in 1896. After Trumble's efforts, Australia were left chasing 111 to win; they collapsed to 19 for 8 and were eventually all out for 44. He also bowled England to defeat with 7 for 28 in his final first-class match, the Melbourne Test of 1903-04, when he took his second hat-trick. Trumble died in Melbourne in 1938.
1903
James Parks, who was born today, was an outstanding allrounder for Sussex, and in first-class cricket he scored over 20,000 runs and took more than 800 wickets. In 1937 he scored 3003 runs and took 101 wickets, a unique performance. He only played one Test, though, against New Zealand at Lord's that year, when he trapped the great Martin Donnelly for 0 in Donnelly's first Test innings. Parks's son Jim also played for England, and his grandson Bobby for Hampshire. He died in Sussex in 1980.
1890
Against MCC, Sussex's Jesse Hide became only the fourth man to take four wickets in four balls - and the first to do so at Lord's. He's not the last to do so at Lord's, though: Frederick Martin achieved the feat for MCC against Derbyshire in 1895, and 12 years later Albert Trott did it in his benefit game, for Middlesex and Somerset. Just for good measure, Trott took another hat-trick in the same innings.
1946
A debut centurion is born. Guyanese opener Len Baichan was unfortunate not to play more than three Tests for West Indies, having made a matchsaving 105 not out on his debut, against Pakistan at Lahore in 1974-75. But with Roy Fredericks and Gordon Greenidge on the scene, Baichan struggled to bed down a place. He was inked in for the opener's role on West Indies' tour of India in 1974-75, but a car-crash put paid to his participation. Greenidge stepped into the breach, scoring 93 and 107 on debut, and never looked back. Baichan ended with a Test average of 46, a first-class average of 51, and plenty of thoughts as to what might have been had Greenidge taken the chance to play for England.
1909
Birth of Frank de Caires, the right-handed middle-order batsman who made 80 and 70 in the first Test played in the Caribbean, when England were the visitors to Barbados in 1929-30. de Caires only played three Tests, though, the last of them in Jamaica in the same series. He died in British Guiana in 1959.
Other birthdays
1894 Donald Knight (England)
1970 Steve Palframan (South Africa)
1978 Thomas Odoyo (Kenya)
© Cricinfo
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