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.