This day in history: 9th September

Sachin Tendulkar scored his first ODI hundred against Australia on 9 September, 1994

Cricket

1853 – Frederick Spofforth, Australian fast bowler, was born. Nicknamed The Demon, his greatest exploits came in the Oval Test match against England in 1882, which ultimately gave rise to Ashes legend. England were set only 85 to win in the fourth innings, but Australia, with help of Spofforth who claimed 7/44, defeated England.

1941 – Syed Abid Ali, who played 29 Test matches for India, was born today. He was known for his military-medium bowling in the ’60s. He registered his best figures of 6 for 55 on his Test debut, in Adelaide in 1967-68. It was a decade where India relied heavily on spin bowling and his role in the side was reduced to take the shine off the ball for the spin quartet who would follow. A genuine all-rounder, he also had six Test fifties and hit the winning runs in a nail-biter at The Oval in 1971, India’s first Test (and series) win in England.

1994 - Sachin Tendulkar, after a long wait of 77 ODIs, finally scored a hundred in his 78th ODI, at Colombo in the Singer World Series against Australia. India won by 31 runs and went on to take the trophy.

Football

1970 - Feyenoord wins European Cup – predecessor of Champions League.

1985 - Luka Modric, Croatian footballer, was born today. He is a former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, who is currently plying his trade with La Liga giants Real Madrid.

1998 - Wimbledon rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat West Ham 4-3 in one of the Premier League’s biggest comebacks.

Tennis

1968 – 1st US Open, held as “Open”. The open era began that year when five separate events - Men’s singles, Women’s singles, Men’s doubles, Women’s doubles, and Mixed doubles - were merged into the US Open, which were held at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills. Arthur Ashe defeated Tom Okker to win the US Open that year.

1979 - Tracy Austin, at 16, became the youngest player to win the U.S. Open women’s tennis title.

1984 – 104th US Men’s Tennis – John McEnroe defeated Ivan Lendl.

Baseball

1950 - Sal Maglie of the New York Giants pitched a fourth consecutive shut-out. Only four other pitchers in the National League had ever accomplished this feat.

1992 - Robin Yount became the 17th major league baseball player to reach 3,000 hits.

1998 - The New York Yankees officially clinched the American League East title. It was the earliest in American League history. The Yankees ended the season 20 1/2 games ahead of second-placed Boston Red Sox.

Do check out the rest of the ‘This day in history‘ series.