ON THIS DAY
1940: Former England captain Mike Denness was born. He was the fifth player to represent England to be born in Scotland but remains the only Scottishborn England captain. Denness played 28 Tests from 1969 to 1975, making four hundreds and seven half-centuries. He died on April 19, 2013.
1973: Jack Nicklaus became the first golfer to win two million US dollars in prize money on the US PGA Tour. Nicklaus later became the first player to win three, four and five million.
1991: The French Davis Cup tennis team, captained by Yannick Noah, beat the USA 3-1 to win the final in Lyon and lift the cup for the first time since 1932. The achievement was marked by a reception in their honour hosted by President Francois Mitterrand at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
1999: Darlington, losers in the second round of the FA Cup, were allowed a wild card entry into the third round because of Manchester United’s withdrawal to play in the World Club Championship but they went out to Aston Villa in January.
2012: England clinched a sensational 38-21 victory over world champions New Zealand, who suffered their first rugby union defeat in 21 matches, at Twickenham.
2019: In Australia’s second Test against Pakistan, Steve Smith became the fastest batsman to 7,000 Test runs, reaching the milestone in 126 innings.
2021: Former British number one Johanna Konta announced her retirement from tennis after struggling with a persistent knee problem and slipping to 113 in the rankings.