Born on December 16, 1882, Jack Hobbs is widely regarded as the greatest opening batsman of all time, playing first-class cricket for 29 years from 1905 to 1934. He remains the man with the most first-class runs – 61,760 – and centuries – 199 – playing all his cricket for Surrey and England. Hobbs made his Test debut in January 1908 against Australia and went on to play 61 Tests, scoring 5,410 runs at an average of 56.94. His career ended when he was past 50 and a large chunk of the runs he amassed came after he had turned 40. In fact, when he scored his last Test century in 1928-29, he was 46 – still a record. In 1953, he became the first professional cricketer to be knighted. Hobbs passed away on December 21, 1963