Sharjah cricket stadium gets new pitch
1985 - A large number of cricket lovers was invited by the CBFS to have a look at the new pitch prepared at the Sharjah Stadium for the forthcoming three-nation Rothmans Challenge Trophy. Judging by a couple of deliveries that Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, the author of the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series, gently dispatched to the off-side region, the pitch offered an even bounce. The ball had tended to keep low during the last four-nation tournament. And this was perhaps one reason that it remained a low-scoring competition. The highest total was 178, which Australia completed with the last delivery of the 50th over to beat arch-rivals England by two wickets. The lowest was 87. It happened to be Pakistan’s reply to India’s 125 all out in 42.4 overs.
October 9
1888 - The Washington Monument is opened in Washington DC.
1933 - Diego Martinez Barrio becomes Prime Minister of Spain.
1958 - Pope Pius XII dies, 19 years after he was elevated to the papacy.
1967 - Latin American guerrilla leader Che Guevara is executed in Bolivia.
1971 - Army rebels in Argentina surrender after a 19-hour attempt to overthrow the government.
1984 - Soviet Union and North Yemen sign 20-year treaty of friendship and cooperation.
1988 - A violent uprising against escalating prices and government-ordered austerity has left at least 200 people dead across Algeria.
1990 - Forty-seven people are killed in India when a train compartment is set afire by terrorists protesting an injunction against an affirmative-action plan.
1991 - The first phase of the Dubai Marina project is completed.
1995 - An earthquake hits Jalisco and Colima states in western Mexico, killing 48 people and injuring more than 100.
1997 - A hurricane sweeps across Mexico’s Pacific coast, devastating Acapulco and killing 249 people.
1997 - Italy’s 17-month-old government led by Prime Minister Romano Prodi quits.
2006 - UN Security Council nominates South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as the next UN secretary-general.
2010 - Tom Donilon is appointed US national security adviser.
2011 - Sebastian Vettel becomes the youngest driver to win the Formula One World Championship twice.
2012 - Pakistani schoolgirl and education activist Malala Yousufzai is shot in the head in an assassination attempt on a school bus in Swat.
