1975: Viv Richards out for 291 v England at Cricket, at the Oval.
1987: In Madras, Australia beat India by one run, the narrowest victory in World Cup history. That underrated one-day player Geoff Marsh made the third of nine hundreds, but India really should have won this one. Navjot Sidhu assaulted Peter Taylor and Allan Border in a 79-ball 73 that included five sixes, and at 207 for 2 – with 64 needed off 15.5 overs – the co-hosts were cruising. But Craig McDermott worked his way through the middle order, and a flurry of run-outs pushed India to the brink. Steve Waugh nervelessly pushed them over by castling Maninder Singh with the penultimate delivery.
1987: On the same day, an Allan Lamb special gave England a memorable victory over West Indies in Gujranwala in their first match of the World Cup. They appeared to have no chance at 162 for 7, with 82 needed off nine overs. But Lamb, who had been subdued until then, came to the party at the perfect time. Courtney Walsh had bowled majestically early on – 5-0-11-0 – but his last 4.3 overs disappeared for 54 as Lamb got stuck in. He finished unbeaten on 67 and England completed a remarkable victory by two wickets with three balls to spare.
1999: It was men against boys in Dhaka, where Brian Lara flayed 117 off 62 balls in the Millennium Cup match against Bangladesh. His century came up in 45 balls, then the second fastest in one-day history, and after 15 overs West Indies were 160 for 1. Khaled Mahmud’s first two overs went for 40. West Indies slowed down after Lara’s dismissal, but their total of 314 for 6 was more than enough for a 109-run victory.
2008: American super-swimmer Michael Phelps wins 3 gold medals, all in world record time, in the one day at the Beijing Olympics; 200m I/M (1:54.23), 200m butterfly (1.52.03) and 4 x 200m freestyle relay (6:58.56).