Alan Kippax (83) and Don Bradman (254) batting as Australia piled up 729 for 6, 2nd Test, Lord's, June 30th 1930. This remains the highest team total made on the ground

Denes Oval Cricket Ground at Lowestoft pictured in the 1950s. Opened in 1925, it is claimed this is the most easterly ground in the UK

A classic picture of Learie Constantine in the nets during West Indies' 1930-31 tour of Australia. Despite a poor Test series - he scored 72 runs at 7.20 and took eight wickets at 50.87 - he won many admirers for his athleticism and skill, not least in the Australian press

The hockey final at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics played at the MCG, December 6th 1956. India beat Pakistan 1-0 to give them their sixth consecutive hockey gold. They did not concede a goal throughout the tournament.

An impromptu cricket match at Soufrière on St Vincent in the Caribbean around 1910

A boy from Leytonstone in Essex with Spot keeping wicket ... this photo appeared in the Daily Mirror on May 1st 1930

Lord Harris waiting to bat in a match at his own ground at Belmont near Faversham, Kent, in 1922. Although his last first-class game was in 1911 when he was 60, he continued to play regularly. His final outing at Lord's was in 1929 when he was 78

In the days of old the BBC used scaffolding to erect bases for their TV cameras and in intervals the presenters clambered up, often by ladder, to chat ... here Peter West and Richie Benaud ignore wind and rain at Edgbaston, 1st Ashes Test, July 10th 1975

The Australian team celebrate in the dressing room after winning the 4th Test at Leeds, July 28th 1997 (Philip Brown)

Roy Fredericks batting at Arundel at the start of the first of his three major tours to England, April 26th 1969. On his final tour in 1976 he scored 517 runs at 57.44 in the five Tests

The joys of watching cricket in April ... these are hardy spectators yesterday afternoon as play continued in persistent drizzle ...

Happy 82nd birthday to Mike Brearley, one of my favourite cricketers. This is one of the first cricket photos I took with an old 200mm lens during the 1980 Gillette Cup final in which Brearley scored 96* as Middlesex beat Surrey. Monte Lynch lurks in the background

Graham Thorpe takes a diving catch to dismiss Sri Lanka's captain Sanath Jayasuriya first ball, 2nd Test, Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy, March 9th 2001. The only problem was it was a bump ball, one of a string of dreadful decisions in the series (Patrick Eagar)

The swashbuckling Lionel Tennyson lofts a ball into the mound stand, Middlesex v Hampshire, Lord's, July 21st 1923. He scored 34 in 45 minutes in a stand of 55 with Phil Mead. Tennyson's career record was average (16828 runs at 23.33) but many of innings were memorable

Sums up the weather this April ... even MCC players this week decided to field in beanies ...

The Nawab of Pataudi pulling the roller at The Parks in April 1931. He captained Oxford that summer and scored a career-best 238* in the Varsity match