Pakistan batting: falling with unity!

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Pakistan: unpredictably unpredictable!

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Bazid completes the set!

On May 26, by playing the first Test against West Indies at Bridgetown Barbados, Pakistan's Bazid Khan provided only the second instance of three generations of the same family playing Test cricket. The famous Headley’s have the distinction of completing the first set. George Headley, the first truly world-class West Indian batsman, played 22 Tests for the West Indies between 1930 and 1954. He smashed six Test centuries before his 22nd birthday – a feat that stood for 63 years until it was broken by Sachin Tendulkar in 1994. He was rated by some to be better than even the Don. The great leg-spinner Clarrie Grimmett, who had bowled to Bradman, Hobbs and Headley, rated Headley the greatest on-side player he had come across. Sir Neville Cardus one of finest authorities on the game, rated him the greatest player on all wickets in the period between the two wars. The `Atlas`, as CB Fry called him, never failed in a single Test series during a 22-Test career that saw him amass 2,190 runs at 60.83. After George it was the turn of his son Ron - an elegant left-hander - to keep alive the Headleys name. Though never in George's class, Ron, who played his cricket in England, proved a more than useful county cricketer, playing a part in Worcestershire winning the county championship on three occasions. He also played two Tests and a single ODI for West Indies in 1973. Ron’s son Dean Headley, a decent seamer and a useful all-rounder, featured in 15 Tests and 13 one-day games for England between 1996 and 1999. A troubling back injury forced him into early retirement.

Bazid's father, Majid Khan played 63 Tests and 23 one-day internationals, between 1964 and 1983. Started his career as a pace bowler, Majid proved his prowess with such a grace and effortless batting that he was called ‘the Majestic Majid’. Majid’s father Dr. Mohammad Jahangir Khan, played four Test matches for India in the 1930s and, after Partition, made an important contribution as a player, administrator and selector to the development of cricket in Pakistan. He is also famous for killing a sparrow in flight while playing for Cambridge against MCC at Lord's in 1936. Interestingly, two other members of the same Khan family also played for Pakistan - Javed Burki and Imran Khan – both are nephews of Jahangir and cousins of Majid.

Bazid’s selection in the ongoing Bridgetown Test also created another record. He and his father (Majid) became only the fifth father-son pair to feature in both forms of cricket (Test & ODI’s), the others being England's Colin Cowdrey and Chris Cowdrey, New Zealand's Lance and Chris Cairns, India's Yograj and Yuvraj Singh and West Indies' Ron Headley and his son Dean Headley who played for England. Of these five father-son pairs, only four have played for the same country in both forms of the game.

Top-order batting heroics in ODI’s

On May 22, during the third match of the ODI series at St. Lucia, Pakistan’s top five batsmen made score of 40 or more. This provided only the third such instance in ODI history. The other two instances were recorded at Dhaka on April 14, 2003 by South African against Bangladesh and on April 12, 2005 at Ahmedabad by Pakistan against India. Interestingly, it was also the seventh such instance in limited-overs cricket when any five players of a side registered scores of atleast 40 runs or more in a match. Curiously enough, it was for the fourth time that five Pakistan players have performed such feat. For reader’s interest the accompanying table has the complete details.Click to see the table

Pakistan seals a rare series triumph

On May 22, by winning the third ODI at St. Lucia Pakistan sealed a rare ‘away’ series victory of their limited-overs international history. It was for the first time that Pakistan have won a bilateral ODI series in West Indies. Pakistan thus became only the second side after South Africa to win all the matches of an ODI (bilateral) rubber played in West Indies. Interestingly, South Africa did so just prior to the start of recent Pakistan-West Indies series when they trounced West Indies by 5-0 scoreline. Now only Australia, Sri Lanka and South Africa remain the only major ODI sides without having a home ODI series whitewash. For reader’s interest the accompanying table has the complete details.Click to see the table

Crictoon of the day - Running without axe!

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Crictoon of the day - Inzi misses!

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Kabhi Hum Be Thay Team Mein...

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When Qadir won Pakistan a thriller!

An eyewitness account of a classic Pakistan v West Indies encounter during 1987 World Cup at Qaddafi Stadium, Lahore on October 16th

Dr. Naveed Yazdani

When I along with my wife entered the great Qaddafi Stadium on that bright and sunny day of October, my heart was sad and heavy. Not to do anything with Cricket but with the sad demise of one of the greatest voices of sub-continent, Kishore Kumar. But once the game began my thoughts started to focus on cricket.

It was a crunch game for the West Indians as they had just lost a nail biter against England at Gujranwala a couple of days back. So it was quite natural for Viv Richards to win the toss and opt for batting first. Desmond Haynes was no stranger to us but little did we know about a slim but well built debutant opener Phil Simmons. And it was Simmons who started to take our bowlers on. A score of 90 plus without losing any wicket was quite ominous and we were beginning to get worried when Tauseef Ahmed struck out of nowhere to remove Simmons for a well played 50. Desmond Haynes was getting frustrated against Saleem Jaffar and could not resist coming down the track and was bowled. Richie Richardson soon top edged Jaffar to be held safely by Ijaz Ahmed and Logie also perished without doing much and we were right back in the game with those four quick wickets.

This was a crucial time in the game as “King� Richards walked out to bat. The Lahore crowd had a strange relationship with Viv; they wanted him to score but not many. And when he flicked Tauseef effortlessly for a huge six over mid wicket, Imran was smart enough to read the script and decided to bring himself back. The second ball of the over was an innocuous full toss which was hit so hard by Viv that I lost the ball completely and thought that I had seen the flattest six of my life, but then I realized that everyone was rushing to Saleem Malik to celebrate the dismissal of Viv. Saleem had held on to a blinder and Imran soon brought the jam packed Qaddafi stadium to its feet by removing Roger Harper on the very next delivery. West Indies could not capitalize on a good start and were all out for 216.

A target of 217 was not huge but a teasing one and Pakistan had a shaky start. Mansoor Akhtar, on whom Imran had so much confidence failed yet another time when his stumps were shattered by Pat Patterson but the crowd became dead silent when the in-form Malik fell cheaply to make Pakistan 2 down for 28. A slow and painstaking partnership between Javed and Rameez was cut short when Viv had Rameez caught brilliantly at wide mid on. Viv dived full length to his left to hold a scorcher of a shot from Rameez just inches from the ground. Our hopes of winning the game were really dented when Hooper had Javed caught and bowled. But then came a match turning partnership between Imran and Saleem Yousaf, the gutsy keeper hitting 7 boundaries and brought Pakistan within a striking distance when the game tilted again in favor of West Indies and Pakistan lost 3 quick wickets and entered the last over at 203 for 9. They still had to get 14 runs from the last over with one wicket in hand and only Abdul Qadir left to face the music.

I will always remember this last over bowled by a young Courtney Walsh for two reasons. One of them obviously brought us to our feet when Qadir, against all odds, went inside out to hit Walsh for a huge six over long off. And the other was an extreme act of sportsmanship from Walsh when he only warned the non striker batsman Saleem Jaffar and did not dislodge the bails otherwise it would have been all over for Pakistan. That gesture won our hearts but we burst into an absolute gleeful dance when Qadir steered the penultimate delivery of the match through point to give Pakistan a sensational 1 wicket win. Hats off to Qadir for not losing his cool and collecting 14 runs from the last over. As soon as the winning runs were hit, Viv could not hide his disappointment and lay motionless on the field for quite sometime while Lahoris were basking in the glory of that great victory, the memory of which has never failed to get me excited even today some 18 years later!

Dr. Naveed Yazdani (annyazdani@hotmail.com) is a freelance Cricket writer and analyst.

Most 100s in a Test match

The recently concluded fourth Test between South Africa and West Indies at St. John’s Antigua turned out to be a great batting feast. Eight individual centuries were scored by eight different batsmen. It thus broke the world record of most number of individual hundreds scored in a Test match. There have been three previous occasions when seven 100’s were scored in a match. The last such instance was also recorded by these two sides at Cape Town in 2003-04. West Indies now lists in three of the first four instances. For readers interest the accompanying table has the complete details.Click to see the table

Wicketkeepers taking a Test wicket

On the fifth day of the recently concluded fourth Test against South Africa at St. John’s Antigua, South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher took off pads to bowl some overs for his side. By taking the wicket of Dwayne Bravo, Boucher thus provided only the 13th instance in Test annals when an officially named keeper for a Test took a wicket in the same match. He also became the ninth keeper in Test cricket’s history to take a Test wicket. For reader’s interest the accompanying table has the complete details.Click to see the table

Gayle bats and bats and bats!

Chris Gayle became the fourth West Indian and 18th player in Test history to score a triple century when he amassed 317 on the fourth day of the fourth Test against South Africa at St. Johns Antigua. His mammoth innings was studded with 37 fours and three sixes. Gayle also became the first player to record a triple ton against South Africa. The previous best against them was Don Bradman’s magnificent 299* at Adelaide in 1931-32.

England's Andrew Sandham was the first man on the planet to reach 300-mark in Test annals. Australia's Don Bradman and West Indian Brian Lara are the only two batsmen in Test cricket to score two triple centuries. Antigua Recreation Ground has now joined Headingley, Leeds as the only venues in the world to witness three individual triple century scores. For readers interest the accompanying table has the complete details.Click to see the table