September 21 down the years

A Caribbean threesome

Ambrose, Constantine and Gayle are born

Curtly Ambrose finished with 405 Test wickets  •  Getty Images

Curtly Ambrose finished with 405 Test wickets  •  Getty Images

1963
In Swetes Village, Antigua, one of the great fast bowlers was born. Curtly Ambrose came into one of the finest teams in cricket history and left one of the most desperate, but throughout his 12 years at the top level he set the highest standards. With unrelenting accuracy, considerable seam movement, and at times chilling hostility, Ambrose was the ultimate quick bowler. He was the author of some of Test cricket's most devastating spells: 8 for 45 to break England's will in Bridgetown in 1990; 7 for 1 in 32 balls in the series decider in Perth in 1992-93; and most memorably of all, when the Wisden Almanack said he came "rampaging in as if on springs", 6 for 24 as England were routed for 46 in Trinidad in 1994, stumps flying everywhere as a frenzied, cacophonous crowd bayed for English blood. In the summer of 2000 he became the fourth man to take 400 Test wickets before leaving Test cricket to a guard of honour and a standing ovation at The Oval.
1902
The birth of cricket's first real box-office allrounder, Learie Constantine of Trinidad and West Indies. A virile, muscular hitter, a bowler who in his prime was capable of fearsome pace, and a wonderfully elastic fielder - perhaps the greatest cover-point in the history of the game - Constantine was the prototype for the likes of Sobers and Botham. His Test record was modest - he averaged 19.24 with the bat and 30.10 with the ball - but, as is often the case with true entertainers, statistics do not tell half the story. He was idolised in Nelson, whose team he guided to an unprecedented eight Lancashire League titles in ten years. Constantine was more than just a mesmerising cricketer: he wrote books; he was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple; he became an MP; he returned to England as High Commissioner for Trinidad, and was awarded the MBE, knighted in 1962 and created a Life Peer before dying in Hampstead in 1971. He was posthumously awarded the Trinity Cross, his country's highest honour.
1979
The birth of flamboyant Jamaican opener Chris Gayle, who went on to be the world's first T20 superstar. Among his numerous batting exploits are a triple-century against South Africa in the Antigua Test of 2005; a century - the first in the format - in the opening game of the inaugural World T20 in Johannesburg; a 66-ball 175 in the IPL, the fastest T20 hundred and also the highest score in the format; and an ODI double-century. In 2008, Gayle led the Stanford Superstars to a thumping win against England to win a US$20 million bounty. In the 2010s he became one of the most sought after T20 freelancers in various leagues, including the IPL, and in 2017 he became the first to get to 10,000 runs in the format.
1959
He only played 11 Tests but Richard Ellison, who was born today, was the key man when England regained the Ashes in 1985. Ellison took 10 for 104 at Edgbaston - memorably castling Allan Border in a spell of 4 for 1 late on the fourth evening - and 7 for 81 at The Oval as England clinched a 3-1 win with consecutive innings victories. With his military-medium pace and gentle late swing Ellison seemed to be the ultimate horse for an English course, but he would only play one more Test on home soil. His Test career was over at 26, just two months after he had become one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year and just nine after he had been England's Ashes darling.
1971
When John Crawley, who was born today, charmed the cricketing cognoscenti with a magnificent 109 to inflict on the touring 1993 Australians their only first-class defeat, he was just 21 and looked set for great things, but his Test career fell by the wayside. There were times when Crawley seemed to have cracked it - a thumping unbeaten 156 in Murali's match at The Oval in 1998 - but a penchant for playing almost exclusively to leg left him exposed in the corridor, a weakness ruthlessly and predictably exploited by the likes of Ambrose and McGrath. He did not play for England after the 2002-03 Ashes, and built a career at Hampshire, for whom he amassed more than 24,000 first-class runs.
2022
A rollicking hundred by Harmanpreet Kaur took India Women to their first series win in England in close to a quarter-century when they won the second ODI by 88 runs. India's captain was striking at a ludicrous 390 runs per hundred balls at the time she brought up her century. She then proceeded to smash six fours and three sixes off her next 11 balls, finishing unbeaten on 143. India's 333 was their second-highest ODI total and the win made them only the second team, after Australia, to take a series off England at home in 15 years.
1893
One of the key components of Australia's 1920-21 Ashes whitewash - the first in history - was born today. An aggressive right-hander, Clarence "Nip" Pellew made successive hundreds in that series: 116 in Melbourne and 104 in Adelaide, both times batting at No. 7. He made 319 runs in the five Tests at 53.16 but a poor tour of England the following summer - he made only one fifty in seven innings despite Australia's enduring omnipotence - meant he had played his last Test in Australia. Another failure in South Africa in 1921-22 was the last act of his ten-Test career.
1997
Pakistan hit their way to a consolation five-wicket victory over India in the fifth one-day international in the Sahara Cup in Toronto, but the Indians still claimed the series 4-1. It was a good day for Ijaz Ahmed, who smashed a brutal 42-ball 60; less so for Indian seamer Abey Kuruvilla, who bore the brunt of Ijaz and Shahid Afridi's new-ball assault - they put on 109 for the first wicket in 11 overs - and conceded 80 from 9.5 wicketless overs.
Other birthdays
1971 Adam Huckle (Zimbabwe)