George Hirst (7 September 1871 – 10 May 1954) was a professional English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire, mainly between 1891 and 1921. He played in 24 Test matches for England, touring Australia twice. He was a left arm medium-fast bowler and right-handed batsman who completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in a season 14 times. He recorded 36,356 runs and 2,742 wickets taken in first-class cricket and 790 runs and 59 wickets in Tests. Hirst was regarded as a specialist batsman until around 1900, when he learned to make the ball swing in flight, making his bowling difficult to counter. He scored 341 runs in an innings against Leicestershire in 1905, and made a unique double of 2,000 runs and 200 wickets in 1906. He played in all England's home Test series between 1899 and 1909, although less successfully than for his county. He played occasionally for Yorkshire after the war, retiring to coach at Eton, while also training youths from other social backgrounds.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hirst

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1778:

Anglo-French War: France invaded the island of Dominica (depicted) and captured its British fort before the latter even knew that France had allied with the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Dominica_%281778%29

1901:

With Beijing occupied by foreign troops from the Eight-Nation Alliance, Qing China was forced to sign the Boxer Protocol, an unequal treaty ending the Boxer Rebellion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Protocol

1999:

Three weeks after an earthquake struck northwestern Turkey, a major earthquake struck Athens, causing Greece and Turkey to initiate "earthquake diplomacy". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek%E2%80%93Turkish_earthquake_diplomacy

2004:

Hurricane Ivan made landfall on Grenada and devastated at least 85 percent of the island. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ivan

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

spit: 1. A thin metal or wooden rod on which meat is skewered for cooking, often over a fire. 2. A generally low, narrow, pointed, usually sandy peninsula. […] 3. (uncountable) Saliva, especially when expectorated. 4. (countable) An instance of spitting; specifically, a light fall of rain or snow. […] 5. The depth to which the blade of a spade goes into the soil when it is used for digging; a layer of soil of the depth of a spade's blade. 6. The amount of soil that a spade holds; a spadeful. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spit

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I'll get an inspiration and start painting; then I'll forget everything, everything except how things used to be and how to paint it so people will know how we used to live.   --Grandma Moses https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grandma_Moses