This day in history: 13th September

Australian legend Shane Warne celebrates his 44th birthday today

Cricket

1963 – Former England batsman, Robin Smith, was born.  Despite being born in South Africa, Smith played 62 Test matches for England. He scored 4236 runs at an average of 43.67 for his adopted country. He also played for Hampshire and Natal – his native state side in South Africa.

1969 - Birthday of the man who made reinvented the art of leg-spin Test cricket – Shane Warne. Shane Warne has 708 Test wickets to his name. He played a key in the 1999 World Cup triumph- and above all, he will be remembered for the ball of the century  - a perfect legbreak at Old Trafford in 1993, which completely foxed Mike Gatting.

Warne had his fair share of controversies off the field. He was suspended for a one year after testing positive for banned substance on the eve of 2003 World Cup. Even after retirement from international cricket, he captained the Rajasthan Royals to victory in the inaugural IPL.

1976 - Birthday of New Zealand all-rounder Craig McMillan. He scored 3116 runs and took 28 wickets in 55 Test matches for the Black caps.

Football

1973 - Birthday of Fabio Cannavaro, former captain of Italy who lead his nation to World Cup glory in 2006. He played for various European clubs like Napoli, Inter Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid.

 2008 - Chelsea beat Manchester City away, 1-3, despite losing captain John Terry to a red card in the second half. The match was significant as it marked the debut of City’s new marquee signing Robinho, who had joined Manchester club from Real Madrid for a record fee of €42.5 million.

With all eyes on the Brazilian forward, he delivered the opening goal with a free kick from twenty yards out in the 13th minute. But he failed to settle at his new club and was labeled a flop at Manchester City and was eventually sold to AC Milan in 2010.

Tennis

1924 – 19th Davis Cup: USA beats Australia in Philadelphia 5-0.

1981 - 101st US Open men’s Tennis: John McEnroe defeated Bjorn Borg 4-6 6-2 6-4 6-3 to win his third consecutive U.S. Open title.

Baseball

1923 – George Burns (Boston Red Sox) performed the third unassisted triple play in baseball history.

1932 - Joe McCarthy became the first manager to win pennants in both baseball leagues when his New York Yankees clinched the American League pennant.

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