This Day in History: 25th August

Andrew Symonds smashed 16 sixes on his way to 254 not out for Gloucestershie on August 25th 1995.

Cricket:

1995: Andrew Symonds smashed 16 sixes on his way to 254 not out for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan to set a world record for a first class innings. His 4 sixes in the second innings gave him the record for most sixes in a match (20).

1952: Birth of former Sri Lanka player Duleep Mendis. He was the first to captain Sri Lanka to a Test victory.

1986: Ian Botham hits 24 off a Derek Stirling over against New Zealand, falling one run short of the then record for most runs in a Test over – held by Andy Roberts off Botham’s bowling. The record has since been bettered on many occasions.

1948: Don Bradman hits 150 in 212 minutes in his last innings at Lord’s before ‘throwing away’ his wicket and declaring on 610 for 5. The Aussies beat England by an innings.

1928: Birthday of Ken Suttle, an opener who scored 30,225 first-class runs. Suttle played in 423 consecutive County Championship matches for Sussex from 1954-69, a record that still stands.

Football:

1928: Arsenal and Chelsea become the first teams in Europe to wear numbers. Not against each other though as Arsenal played in the top flight and Chelsea in Division Two.

1979: Birth of Bristol City striker Marlon Harewood. Harewood has scored 139 career goals in 470 appearances.

Olympics:

1920: Ethelda Bleibtrey becomes the 1st US woman to win a swimming gold medal at the Olympics. She was also the first woman to win three Olympic gold medals.

1960: 17th Summer Olympics opens in Rome.

Tennis:

1927: Birth of Althea Gibson, she became the first black tennis champion of a major event when she won the French Open in 1956. In 1960 she also became the first woman to compete on the women’s professional golf tour.

Golf:

1996: 96th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Tiger Woods. Woods, 37, has won 14 majors so far in his stellar career.

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