On the 27 July, 1990, the former Australian international cricketer, coach and commentator, Tom Moody, scored a world record 100 runs in 26 minutes in a first-class county cricket match.

Born in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1965, he was educated at the Guildford Grammar School in Perth, where his father was headmaster. As a boy he exhibited a talent for athletics, particularly the high jump, and Australian rules football, but he truly excelled at cricket. He was selected to train with the 1st XI side, usually made up of year twelve students, at the age of just thirteen, and played with them the following year.

Upon leaving school he moved into Western Australian Grade Cricket with the Midland-Guildford team, and in the winter months sought overseas experience as a young professional in the Northern Leagues in England.

‘Long Tom’ Moody, so nicknamed for his six foot six inch height, began his first-class career in the 1985-1986 season with Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield, and also played in England with Warwickshire CCC [1990] and Worcestershire CCC [1991-1999]. Captaining Western Australia and Worcester to various trophies.

An aggressive and fast scoring batsman, Moody scored over 20,000 runs in first-class cricket, including 64 centuries. He was also a useful medium pace bowler.

Moody made his Test cricket debut in 1989 against New Zealand, and played eight Test matches for Australia before his last against Sri Lanka in 1992. He had more success with Australia’s ODI team, his first appearance coming in 1987 against India. He appeared in three World Cups, including two finals in 1987 and 1999.

Although it is claimed he earned even more success when in 1989 he threw a haggis a distance of 230 feet !

In 1994, along with Tim Curtis  the pair set the record for the highest ever partnership for the 3rd wicket in List A cricket history, scoring 309 not out. 

Since retirement in 2001, Moody has served as a coach, been an Australian cricketer’s representative, and for several years held the post of Director of Cricket with Worcestershire CCC. In May 2005 he was appointed coach of the Sri Lankan national team and led them to the final of the 2007 World Cup before leaving the post.

He then began cricket commentary around the world, as well as covering some Australian Test and ODI Cricket for Channel Nine, and the Big Bash League for Channel Ten.

Moody still regularly commentates on both television and radio throughout the Australian international and domestic season.

In 2007, Moody was appointed as manager and head coach of the Western Warriors. And in December 2012, it was announced that Moody would coach the new IPL Sunrisers Hyderabad team, over the course of the next 6 seasons, the Sunrisers reached the qualifier rounds five times and won the championship in 2016.

27 July, 2019

Australian Test cricketer, Richie Benaud, OBE, [1930-2015], married Marcia Lavender in 1953 and the couple had two sons, Greg and Jeffery, from their marriage. He divorced Marcia in 1967, and on the 26 July 1967 married his second wife Daphne Surfleet, who had worked for the English cricket writer E. W. Swanton.

Born in Penrith, New South Wales, in 1930. Benaud helped restore Australia to the top of world cricket in the late after a slump in the early 1950s.

He became Australia’s Test captain in 1958, a position he held until his retirement in 1964. In the previous year he became the first player to reach 200 wickets and 2,000 runs in Test cricket.

After his retirement from international cricket, Benaud became a highly regarded commentator on the game.

Following his death in 2015, at the age of 84, the cricket legend left his multi-million dollar estate to his wife of 48 years, 79 year-old Daphne Benaud, leaving her to decide if she wanted to share his legacy with his children from his previous marriage, or keep it all to herself.

However, in the event that she died within 30 days of his passing, Benaud left instructions that a part of his estate went to his two estranged sons Gregory and Jeffery, together with his brother John, and Daphne’s family. His ex-wife of 14 years Marcia was left out of the will.

His first wife Marcia, along with her son Gregory, launched a legal action in the New South Wales Supreme Court, challenging for a slice of the inheritance. During which she revealing details of the life she once shared with the emerging Test cricketing star. Alleging that on more than one occasion she challenged her ex-husband in court about payments for their two sons. Claiming that initially he had kept in touch with their sons, but as years went by they ‘didn’t see him as often’. After she divorced him on the grounds of desertion in 1967, Marcia revealed she had sometimes struggled to raise their two sons in the years since.

The matter was later resolved and the terms of the settlement remain confidential.

Benaud was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire [OBE] in 1961 for services to cricket.

26 July, 2019

On the 25 July 1914, the cricketing legend, William Gilbert ‘W.G.’ Grace, MRCS, LRCP, played the last match in which he batted for Eltham Cricket Club against Grove Park, a week after his 66th birthday. He contributed an undefeated 69 runs in Etham’s total of 155 for 6 declared, having come to the crease when Eltham were 31 for 4. Grove Park made 99 for 8 in reply.

Grace neither batted or bowled in his very last match for Eltham against Northbrook in August, a few days after the outbreak of the World War 1.

A right-handed batsman and medium-paced bowler, Grace is considered one of crickets greatest-ever players. He played first-class cricket for 44 seasons, from 1865 to 1908, during which he captained England, Gloucestershire, the Gentlemen, the MCC, the United South of England Eleven, along with several other teams.

He qualified as a medical practitioner in 1879, and as such was nominally an amateur cricketer, but it is said he made more money from cricket than any professional player.

According to statistical records, when Grace concluded his 44 seasons in 1908, he had made more than 870 appearance as a first-class cricketer. Yet despite his age and his bulk, Grace continued to play minor cricket for several years after his retirement from first-class cricket.

Born in Downend, near Bristol in July 1848, Grace died in Mottingham, London in October 1915 aged 67, and is buried at Beckenham Crematorium and Cemetery in Kent.

25 July, 2019

On the 24 July, 1966, American professional golfer, Tony Lema (1934-1966) at the age of 32 in an aircraft accident near Chicago. 

Lema rose to fame in the mid-1960s, when he won the 1964 Open Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland. 

Born in Oakland, California, his father died of pneumonia when Tony was three years old, leaving his widowed mother struggling to raise the family of four children on welfare.

Lema began playing golf as a boy at the Lake Chabot municipal golf course where he learned many different aspects of the game from a variety of people. Noted African-American golf coach Lucius Bateman helped develop his swing, and Oakland policeman Ralph Hall taught him course strategy. The golf pros at Lake Chabot, Dick Fry and Bill Burch, trained him on basic golf fundamentals, including the use of a square stance.

At age 17, Lema enlisted in the US Marine Corps and served in Korea. After his discharge from the military in 1955, he obtained work as an assistant to the club professional at a San Francisco golf club.

While in San Francisco, the wealthy San Francisco businessman, Eddie Lowery, best known for as a 10-year-old schoolboy he caddied for the US champion Francis Ouimet in the 1913 U.S. Open. Lowery helped sponsor and encourage Lema, and gave him $200 a week expense money, to be repaid, in addition to splitting his winnings, with Lema receiving two-thirds, and Lowery one-third.

By 1957, Lema had developed his skills sufficiently to earn his way onto the PGA Tour, winning the Imperial Valley Open in memorable fashion. Assuming he was out of contention, Lema headed to the clubhouse bar, where he drank three highballs, and was then told he would face Paul Harney in a sudden-death playoff. A relaxed Lema won the tournament on the second extra hole.

The following year, in 11 tournaments, Lema finished in the top 15, winning $10,282 for the year.

The following year, Lema’s winnings dropped to $5,900, followed by an even worse year in 1960, when he collected a mere $3,060. A raucous off-the-course lifestyle, contributed to Lema’s continuing struggle in 1962. His debt to Lowery now having reached over $11,000, his luck finally changed for the better.

On the eve of his victory in October 1962 at the Orange County Open Invitational in Costa Mesa, California, Lema joked he would serve champagne to the press if he won the tournament the next day. From then on he was known as Champagne Tony, and his handsome looks and vivacious personality added to the legend.

Lema was a member of Ryder Cup teams in 1963 and 1965 with a record of 9 wins, 1 loss and 1 tie, which remains amongst the best of any player who played in two or more Ryder Cups.

In 1963, Lema finished second by one stroke to Nicklaus at the Masters, and missed the playoff for the US Open by two shots, bogeying the last two holes, and was named 1963 Most Improved Player by Golf Digest.

24 July, 2019

On the 23 July 1942, England and Surrey cricketer, and England footballer, Andrew Ducat [1886-1942], died suddenly of a heart attack. aged 46, during a wartime cricket match at Lord’s between teams from Ducat’s unit of the Surrey Home Guard against another from Sussex.

The match was immediately abandoned as a mark of respect for Ducat. He is the only person to have died while playing in a match at Lord’s.

Ducat was born in Brixton, London, but grew up in Southend, and was one of an elite group to have represented their country in both sports.

He joined the ground staff at the Oval in 1906, and became a regular member of the county team. playing alongside Tom Hayward, Jack Hobbs and Ernest Hayes.

Standing 5’10” high, he was a powerful, forcing batsman, Ducat made 52 centuries for Surrey, including 306 not out in 280 minutes against Oxford University in 1919. In 1928, he made 994 runs in less than six weeks, including centuries in four successive matches.

He was also one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1920.

He played in only one Test match. The 3rd Test against Australia at Headingly, Leeds in 1921, where he make 3 and 2 runs. He was ‘doubly’ out in the first innings, when his bat disintegrated playing a ball bowled by Ted McDonald. The ball looped to slip where it was caught, and part of the broken bat hit the wicket ans dislodged a bail. He was given out caught rather than hit wicket.

Ducat also had a successful football career. He started out playing for non-league Southend United before joining First Division Woolwich Arsenal in 1905. He made his Arsenal debut on February 1905, in a 2–0 win against Blackburn Rovers, playing at centre forward.

During his time at Arsenal, he won three caps for England, his debut coming against Ireland in Belfast in February 1910. England won 6–1. On his second appearance for England, against Wales in March the same year, Ducat scored the only goal in a 1–0 win.

After retiring from cricket in 1931, Ducat became cricket coach at Eton College for five years. He was also a sports reporter for the Daily Sketch.

23 July, 2019

On the 22 July 1995, professional cricketer for Nottinghamshire and England, Harold Larwood died aged 90 (1904-1995). A right-arm fast bowler who combined speed with great accuracy, Larwood was considered to be the finest bowler of his generation.

The main exponent of the ‘bodyline’ style of bowling, which during the MCC tour of Australia in 1932–33, caused uproar which resulted in the premature and acrimonious end of his international career. The Australians’ described the method as ‘unsportsmanlike’, souring cricketing relations between the two countries.

Larwood was born in 1904 in the Nottinghamshire village of Nuncargate, near the coal mining town of Kirkby-in-Ashfield. A coal miner’s son who began working in the mines at the age of 14, Larwood was recommended to Nottinghamshire on the basis of his performances in club cricket, and rapidly acquired a place among the country’s leading bowlers.

He made his Test debut in 1926, in only his second season in first-class cricket. and was a member of the 1928–29 touring side that retained the Ashes in Australia.

Larwood refused to apologise for his bowling, since he was carrying out his captain’s instructions. He never played for England after the 1932–33 tour, but continued his county career with considerable success for several more seasons.

In 1950 he and his family emigrated to Australia, where he was warmly welcomed, in contrast to the reception accorded him in his cricketing days.

In 1993, at the age of 88, he was appointed an MBE in recognition of his services to cricket.

22 July. 2019

On the 21 July 1945, former World No. 1 English professional darts player, John Lowe MBE, was born in New Tupton, near Chesterfield in Derbyshire, where he still lives.

One of the most talented and well known darts players during the 1970s and 1980s, Lowe is one of only six players to have won the World Championship three times [1979,1987,1993], and was the first player to win the Championship in three separate decades.

He met Eric Bristow six times in the World Championship in various semi-finals and finals, and it was not until his fourth attempt in the 1987 final, that he managed to overcome his great rival. His record against the ‘Crafty Cockney’ in majors was three wins and six defeats.

Lowe’s titles and achievements span a career of almost forty years, and is well known for being the first player to achieve a televised nine-dart finish against Keith Deller in 1984. Lowe won £102,000 for his achievement, and went on to win the tournament.

In his hugely successful career Lowe also won two World Masters titles, two British Open titles, two British Matchplay Championships, two World Cup Singles, and three European Cup Singles Titles, as well as countless other titles around the world..

He played for England over 100 times and was captain for seven years, during which time his team were unbeaten.

Although common in darts, Lowe never had a nickname, until someone came up with ‘Old Stoneface’, the title of Lowe’s autobiography published in 2005.

He was Secretary of the World Professional Dart Players Association, later to become the Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA).

21 July, 2019

On the 20^th July 1938, former professional footballer Roger Hunt, MBE, was born in Glazebury, Lancashire. He spent eleven years at Liverpool Football Club, and was the club’s record goal scorer with 286 goals, until that number was surpassed by Ian Rush. 

As a boy Hunt attended Leigh Grammar School between 1950 and 1956 before signing for Liverpool in July 1958. He made his debut for the club in 1959 in a Second Division fixture at Anfield against Scunthorpe United, and scored his first goal for the club in the 64th minute to give the Reds a 2–0 victory.

Regarded as one of Liverpool’s greatest players, Hunt was known as ‘Sir Roger’ by the club’s fans. He won two league titles and an FA Cup under manager Bill Shankly, and was ranked 13th in an official fan poll of the ‘100 Players Who Shook the Kop’,

Hunt was capped 34 times for England, and made his debut, under Walter Winterbottom, when he was still a Second Division player in , in a friendly against Austria at Wembley, scoring in England’s 3-1 win.

Although he was part of the England squad at the 1962 World Cup in Chile, he  was not selected to play. However, Hunt played in all six England games in the England team that won the 1966 World Cup, scoring three times.

After retiring from football in 1972, Hunt joined his family’s haulage company and in 1975 became a sitting member of the Pools Panel, which predict the results of games affected due to adverse weather^]

He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

20 July, 2019

On the 19 July 1876, the English Test cricketer (1901-1905), John Richmond Gunn, was born in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire (1876–1963).

A nephew of famous batsman William Gunn, John Gunn first played for Nottinghamshire when only 20. The following year John Gunn scored 107 against the Philadelphians in his third first-class match, and took 10 wickets against Yorkshire in his fourth, but did so little after the Yorkshire game, that he could not establish a place in the Nottinghamshire team.

1899 saw John Gunn establish himself as Nottinghamshire’s chief bowler, though he faded late in the season. In 1900, though he never played a bigger innings than 87, but scored 1,000 runs for the first time in a season, and considering the unfavourable pitches, bowled exceedingly well.

Gunn was chosen for the Ashes tour of 1901-1902, but was very disappointing with both bat and ball. Although the following year, bowling in a slower style, he had his finest season ever.

On a featherbed wicket at Trent Bridge, he hit 294 against Leicestershire, which was amazingly his first century since his third first-class match! As a bowler, Gunn took 28 wickets in two games against Surrey and Essex during the August Bank Holiday week.

He was named a Cricketer of the Year by Wisden in 1904.

Lack of practice in 1907 affected his bowling severely, and by 1909 John Gunn was clearly no more than an occasional bowler. Gunn dropped out of the Nottinghamshire side after a few matches in 1925.

He died in 1963.

19 July, 2019

On the 18 July, 1957, professional golfer Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo, MBE,  was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.

Faldo became hooked on golf at the age of 14, having never ‘even picked up a golf club’ after watching Jack Nicklaus play in the 1971 Masters on his parent’s ‘new colour’ television.

Faldo qualified to play in the 1974 English Amateur Championship at Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire. A year later, in 1975, he won both the English Amateur at Royal Lytham St. Annes, and the British Youths Open Amateur Championship.

Faldo’s won a golf scholarship to the University of Houston, where he attended for just ten weeks, before deciding it was not for him

After leaving the school, Faldo turned professional in 1976 and joined the European Professional Golfers Association, finishing top of the Order of Merit in 1983, with five European Tour victories.

in July 1987, Faldo claimed his first major title at The Open Championship at Muirfield. After posting rounds of 68 (-3) and 69 (-2), Faldo emerged through stormy conditions with an even-par 71, entering the final round one stroke behind American Paul Azinger. Faldo parred every hole in his final round for a one shot victory.

Faldo won his second major championship at the 1989 Masters. Starting his fourth round five shots off the lead held by Ben Crenshaw, Faldo’s final round of 65 (consisting of eight birdies, nine pars and one bogey) was the low round of the tournament and enabled him to get into a playoff with Scott Hoch.

Faldo is one of the most successful Ryder Cup players ever, having won 25 points and having represented the European Team a record 11 times. He played a key role in making Europe competitive in the event. Having won 23 of his matches, lost 19, and halved 4, he also holds the European record for having played the most Ryder Cup matches. Faldo was selected as captain of the European Ryder Cup team in 2008, the 37th Ryder Cup which was won 16½ – 11½ by Team USA to end the streak of three successive victories for Team Europe

A top player of his era, he was ranked No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking for a total of 97 weeks.His 41 professional wins include 30 victories on the European Tour and six major championships, three Open Championships (1987, 1990, 1992) and three Masters Championships (1989, 1990, 1996).

In 1991, Faldo launched his golf course design practice Faldo Design, which has designed or remodelled dozens of courses spread across several continents

Faldo was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1989 and inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1997. And in 2000, Faldo was ranked 18th greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.

He was awarded the MBE in the 1988 New Year Honours , and made a Knight Bachelor in the 2009 Birthday Honours for his services to golf.

Faldo was announced as the 2014 recipient of the Payne Stewart Award in September 2014

Faldo has since become a television pundit for major golf championships. In 2006, he became the lead golf analyst for CBS Sports.