Imran Khan after winning the 1992 World Cup
1996 Cricket World
The 2003 World Cup tournamant was won by Australia under the captaincy of Ricky Ponting
Star performers in World Cup finals: Prudential World Cup 1975 ...
1975
1979
Sunil Wettimuny: Yesterday and Today
Info Of 1983 Cricket World Cup
INDIA’S wealthy cricket team will bring a private chef to Australia this summer and have pulled out all stops to ensure their only runs come on the field.
The Indians are trying to ‘curry’ favour with their explicit demands for no spicy foods at Australia’s Test venues.
With their chef slaving in their hotel to prepare their favourite cuisine away from Test days, India’s cricketers have issued a list of food requirements to grounds from the Gabba to the SCG.
The Test action will be hot in the middle but India insists they want no spice in the dressingroom.
Only mild curries such as butter chicken are on India’s list of nutritional requirements, with the explicit instruction of “no spicy foods” written in large, red letters on their list of food demands.
The tourists are also desperate to avoid their millionaire
cricketers like MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli becoming sick while in
Australia.
They have issued Test venue caterers with pages of hygiene instructions, many of which are simply common sense.
Australia’s cricketers have long suffered Delhi belly while in the subcontinent but India’s elite cricketers won’t hear of having any food germs.
They have ordered that hot dishes must be served at more than 60 degrees Celsius, and cold food below five degrees Celsius, and detailed a long list of food hygiene requirements.
“All utensils should look clean and have no food or anything else visible,’’ the document states.
“All staff must wash their hands thoroughly with warm, soapy water.
“Utensils must be sanitised in a dishwasher at high heat and must be dried before use, with air drying the best method.’’
India’s list of nutritional requirements isn’t as extensive as when England was here last summer and wanted their dressingroom to resemble a Michelin Star restaurant for the Ashes.
The Poms demanded dishes such as piripiri breaded tofu with tomato salsa, a quinoa and cranberry breakfast bar, mungbean curry with spinach and pistachio and ginger biscotti.
India simply insist there must be no spicy or fried foods.
And they say no beef or pork related products should be used in cooking or food preparation, given their high number of vegetarian cricketers.
They have requested an all-day venue menu including
chicken, roast lamb, smoked salmon, low-fat cheese and snacks such as
raw nuts, muffins, energy bars and cookies.
The breakfast waiting for them when they arrive at Tests grounds should feature scrambled and poached eggs, grilled mushrooms, baked beans, yoghurt and whole fruits.
Lunch must include grilled chicken and fish, butter chicken (mild), steamed rice, subzi (dry vegetable curry) and steamed vegetables.
“Any foods not on the list must be approved by team management before they are provided to athletes,’’ the document reads.
Australia also sends food guidelines to opposition countries before overseas tours but they are generally simple and straightforward.
With their chef slaving in their hotel to prepare their favourite cuisine away from Test days, India’s cricketers have issued a list of food requirements to grounds from the Gabba to the SCG.
The Test action will be hot in the middle but India insists they want no spice in the dressingroom.
Only mild curries such as butter chicken are on India’s list of nutritional requirements, with the explicit instruction of “no spicy foods” written in large, red letters on their list of food demands.
Fresh red hot chillies are unlikely to be sighted on the Indian cricket team’s dietary requirements.
They have issued Test venue caterers with pages of hygiene instructions, many of which are simply common sense.
Australia’s cricketers have long suffered Delhi belly while in the subcontinent but India’s elite cricketers won’t hear of having any food germs.
They have ordered that hot dishes must be served at more than 60 degrees Celsius, and cold food below five degrees Celsius, and detailed a long list of food hygiene requirements.
“All utensils should look clean and have no food or anything else visible,’’ the document states.
“All staff must wash their hands thoroughly with warm, soapy water.
Baked beans have been given the seal of approval, however.
India’s list of nutritional requirements isn’t as extensive as when England was here last summer and wanted their dressingroom to resemble a Michelin Star restaurant for the Ashes.
The Poms demanded dishes such as piripiri breaded tofu with tomato salsa, a quinoa and cranberry breakfast bar, mungbean curry with spinach and pistachio and ginger biscotti.
India simply insist there must be no spicy or fried foods.
And they say no beef or pork related products should be used in cooking or food preparation, given their high number of vegetarian cricketers.
... as have scrambled eggs.
The breakfast waiting for them when they arrive at Tests grounds should feature scrambled and poached eggs, grilled mushrooms, baked beans, yoghurt and whole fruits.
Lunch must include grilled chicken and fish, butter chicken (mild), steamed rice, subzi (dry vegetable curry) and steamed vegetables.
“Any foods not on the list must be approved by team management before they are provided to athletes,’’ the document reads.
Australia also sends food guidelines to opposition countries before overseas tours but they are generally simple and straightforward.
Amitabh Bachchan padded up for a charity cricket match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, India
The Indian team at the Third Test, India vs W. Indies at Georgetown, Guyana, ’71. (Photograph by Getty images, From Outlook, July 04, 2011)
For Joy
Alan Knott caught by Solkar off Venkataraghavan, Third Test at the
Oval. India had won its first Test in England, and with it, the series.
cricket: 1971
Indian cricket graduated with honours 40 summers ago, in 1971
In
cricket, 2011 mirrors 1971—India toured West Indies and England that
year too. There are wild divergences, though. India are the No. 1 Test
team now, they were no-hopers then. India are the one-day world
champions; 1971 was the year odi cricket was accidentally invented, and
it wasn’t until three years later that India played its first
international in the short format. But in 1971 India defied wisdom,
convention and their own sense of inferiority that had bedevilled them
until then. They upset both West Indies and England 1-0, winning series
abroad for only the second and third time. Their first triumph was only
three years before that, against New Zealand. Beating their old colonial
masters, and the West Indians, caused an enduring marriage between
Indian fans and hyperbole. They proclaimed India the world champions.India’s ‘world champions’ of 40 years ago were a bunch of mavericks. The captain, Ajit Wadekar, was shocked at getting the job, through a 3-2 vote of the selectors. The man he replaced, the charismatic M.A.K. Pataudi, declined to be part of the team (he entered politics instead) and Wadekar was left with a young and interesting bunch, most of them still under 30.
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Beating West Indies was epochal, for India hadn’t beaten them—or even led in an innings against them—before. But then West Indies were caught between two eras of extreme pace. Hall and Griffith had retired, Holding and Roberts were yet to debut at the top level. Barely freed of colonialism, West Indies were seen as “calypso cricketers”, good entertainers but fragile in the mind. They’d not won a series after December 1966, and had lost twice to England and once to Australia.
Engineer, who missed the West Indies tour because the Indian board made it mandatory for players to have played domestic cricket, says that their attack was laughable. “Holder used to play county cricket, and I used to stand up to him—can’t be all that quick!” he chuckles. “Uton Dowe tried to bowl short all the time. Lloyd asked him why, and Dowe said: ‘I’ve seen a crack in the pitch and I’m trying to hit that crack!’” Their top wicket-taker was Jack Noreiga, who’d not played first-class cricket for eight years before that season. Sobers, who made 597 runs, was the most threatening bowler too, this in the last phase of his great career. No wonder, Bedi believes that with a more daring captain than Wadekar, India would have won at least 2-0. Legendary leg-spinner Chandrashekhar agrees, “He was a good captain, a good thinker, but he was not the attacking type.”
Ebrahim Maka: Stumper whose batting held him back
Ebrahim Maka was born on March 5, 1922. Abhishek Mukherjee looks at a man with tidy glovework whose lack of batting skills held him back.
The dilemma that hampered the career of Ebrahim Suleman Maka was the one almost all cricket-playing nations have faced at some point of time: should an excellent wicket-keeper be considered even if he was not a quality batsman? The earlier days of Maka’s career had already coincided with World War I. Things did not change a lot after the War with champions like Probir Sen, ‘Nana’ Joshi, Madhav Mantri, and Naren Tamhane ruling the national side.
It became impossible for Maka to break through to the national side. His wicket-keeping skills were not far behind the others, but it was his ordinary batting that set him back. It did not help that Maka played for Gujarat, one of the “lesser” sides in the Indian domestic circuit.
Maka played 34 First-Class matches in a career spanning 21 seasons. The matches fetched him 58 catches and 27 stumpings. His glovework was neat and reliable, he hardly grassed a chance, and his nimble footwork made him a fast mover behind the stumps. Not much of a batsman, Maka scored only 607 runs at 15.56 with two fifties.
Early days
Maka was born in Daman, which made him the oldest (and the first debutant) among all Test cricketers born in Portuguese territory. Just for the sake of records, the others are Dick Westcott (born in Lisbon), Dilip Sardesai (born in Margao, then under Portuguese rule), Antao D’Souza (Nalgaon), and Moises Henriques (born in Funchal).
He was brought up in poverty: his father was a cargo ship captain who earned a meagre INR 150 a month to support a family of ten. By that time, the family had shifted to near Crawford Market in Bombay, and young Ebrahim had taken to cricket.
Maka’s First-Class debut came in the Bombay Pentangular at the young age of 19. Playing against the Hindus, he got to see Vijay Merchant score a classic 243, but that was about it. He did not have a dismissal against his name, and scored eight batting at eleven.
It took two years for the next match to happen, and playing for Gujarat against Sind at Karachi, Maka stumped VK Samtani off Shamsher Baloch; it was his maiden First-Class victim. The next season he returned a haul of eight catches and six stumpings from five matches and impressed the critics with his efficiency behind the stumps.
Keen on finding a spot at a higher level, Maka found a new role: when Gujarat had to follow-on against Bombay in their den, Pheroze Cambhata sent Maka to open batting; he launched an amazing counterattack against Dattu Phadkar, Ramesh Divecha, and Ranga Sohoni, scoring 45 before he got out with the score on 61.
When Pakistan came on their maiden tour of India, Maka was selected for their tour match for West Zone at Ahmedabad. The hosts led by 40, and Vijay Hazare, keen on giving everyone a chance, promoted Maka as opener. Once again he impressed with 56, and suddenly became one of the contenders for the national side with three catches and a stumping. Later that month, he made his Test debut.
Test cricket
The selectors had been experimenting with wicket-keepers throughout the series: Sen had played the first Test at Kotla; Joshi had replaced him at Lucknow; and Vijay Rajindernath had come in at Brabourne Stadium. Now, with India 2-1 up in the series, it was Maka’s turn to don the cap in the fourth Test at Chepauk.
Pakistan batted first and scored 344; Maka conceded nine byes but caught Imtiaz Ahmed and stumped Waqar Hasan off Vinoo Mankad and Fazal Mahmood off Dattu Phadkar. Rain washed away the Test after two days of play as India finished on 175 for six — poor Maka did not get a chance to bat, and was (without any apparent reason) dropped — for the final Test at Eden Gardens the selectors turned to Sen, the local boy.
Nevertheless, Maka was selected for the West Indies tour that followed as a reserve for Joshi. He played two tour matches — against Trinidad at Queen’s Park Oval and against Barbados at Kensington Oval — and did not do too badly. However, he replaced Joshi in the third Test at Queen’s Park Oval following a defeat in the previous Test.
Hazare opted to bat, and India were 225 for eight when Maka walked out to join Jayasinghrao Ghorpade. He had replaced Polly Umrigar, who had just become the fifth wicket of Lester King. King was certainly not express, but he was accurate and could make the ball take off at a brisk pace.
Maka managed two runs before a ball from King took off and broke two small bones of Maka’s left hand. He did not take any further part in the Test; in fact, not another match on the tour — or even another Test.
Back to domestic cricket
Maka resumed his career later that year for Indian XI against Commonwealth XI at Ahmedabad. He continued to play on, carrying on with the dual role of wicket-keeper and an opening batsman restricted to flashy cameos, and scored a career-best 66 not out against Saurashtra at Rajkot in 1955-56. It was also his last First-Class match.
Seven years later, he made a comeback to play two Defence Fund Matches for Andhra Chief Minister’s XI. Interestingly, on both occasions, Maka’s side was led by Madhav Mantri, himself an opening batsman-cum-wicket-keeper, but Maka opened and kept wickets in both matches. What made things even more unusual was the fact that the opposition wicket-keepers also opened batting — Imtiaz Ahmed for his own XI at Rawalpindi and Budhi Kunderan for Associated Cement Company at Anantapur.
Post-retirement
Maka shifted to Daman after his retirement. He passed away in relative obscurity on November 7, 1994 at the age of 74 years 247 days.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Deputy Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs at http://ovshake.blogspot.in and can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ovshake42)
Which situations in the history of cricket represents the epitome of the most disgraceful show against the spirit of cricket?
Dennis Lillee and Javed Miandad were two of cricket's most high-profile players in the 1980s. Both mixed brilliant play with an unfortunate tendency to attract controversy - and newspaper headlines. These two abrasive characters came up against each other when Pakistan toured Australia in 1981-82, with explosive consequences.
"Miandad turned Lillee behind square for a single, and in completing an easy run, he collided with the bowler. Eyewitnesses agreed that Lillee was to blame and most observed that he had deliberately moved into the batsman's path. The two players' versions of events differ ... As Lillee turned to go back to his mark he maintained that Miandad struck him from behind with his bat; Miandad countered with the claim that Lillee had kicked him as he passed. What isn't in doubt is that Lillee then turned to confront Miandad, and Miandad lifted his bat above his head as if to strike him. The unedifying images of Tony Crafter, the umpire, stepping in to hold back Lillee while Miandad wielded his bat like a deranged javelin thrower were beamed around the world."
Polly Umrigar
JF Collectibles - Overseas Cricketers 1940/50s - # 14 Polly Umrigar - India
£2.50
Buy it now
+ £1.35 P&P
Excellent condition.
1975 West Indies, first World Cup winners.
Prasanna's Career
Prasanna played his debut Test cricket match at Madras against England in 1961. In 49 test matches prasanna picked up a staggering 189 wickets. In a career full of sucess stories prasanna even timed himself out to pursue an engineering degree. A return after 5 years too saw prasanna gain a place in the side after he performed excellently in england in 1967. Prasanna retired a=in the year 1978.Awards
In his illustrious career erapalli prasanna was awarded the following:- 1970 - Padma Shri Award
- 2006 – Castrol Lifetime Achievement award
Lord's to host 100th India vs England Test match Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/lords-100th-invia-vs-england-test-match/1/145003.html
An India vs England match at LordDuring
the first Test between India and England at Lord's in June 1932, a
handful of Indians watched from the stands as England wrapped up the
game with a day to spare, said The Times, London. The Indian team, led
by Natwarsinghji Bhavsinghji, the Maharaja of Porbunder, was dismissed
by the London-based Evening Standard as a bunch whose "15 players speak
18 languages".But that's history. On July 21, when England take on India at Lord's in the 100th Test between the two, 22,500 Indians-as per Lord's records-will fill the 28,000-capacity stadium to cheer the visitors, who are on a high after the World Cup win in April and a series win in the Caribbean.
The 1932 Indian cricket team led by the Maharaja of Porbunder at Lord's before the first Test against EnglandMembers of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's
team are bracing for what is expected to be a hard-fought series. It
will also give England the opportunity to stage a trouble-free series
after the one in August 2010 against Pakistan ended under a cloud of
match-fixing. Three Pakistani players, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif and
Salman Butt, were suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC)
for five years.Off the field, India and England have had their share of jousting over the timing of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) as well as the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS). Tensions between cricket officials of India and England were evident at the recent ICC meeting in Hong Kong when BCCI officials sought amendments to the rules relating to top slots in ICC and a window for foreign players participating in IPL. Members of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) felt the changes would benefit only India.
Dilip Vengasarkar at Lord'sIndia's
last England tour in 2007 was marred by the ugly jelly bean incident at
Trent Bridge, Nottingham, where Zaheer Khan claimed close fielders had
deliberately strewn them near the crease to distract him. Worse, S.
Sreesanth was repeatedly called "Harry Potter" for wearing
glasses. When Sreesanth protested, English players said they were
cheering for Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays Potter in the series,
who was watching the match that day.Social historian Ashis Nandy says the craze around the 100th Test, especially the way Indians have booked nearly 85 per cent of seats, shows how complete India's control of world cricket is. Cricket has never been richer, or been played and followed by more people. All because India, not England or Australia, is making the game lucrative by providing an overwhelming proportion of its revenue and audience. India's resurrection in world cricket, especially in the eyes of England, argue Nandy and cricket historian Boria Mazumdar, started with the 1983 World Cup win. Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly helped when he stood in the balcony of the Indian dressing room at Lord's and took his shirt off to wave it at the crowd. That was the NatWest Series in 2002 and that aggressive gesture showed a new, assertive nation.
Click here to Enlarge"Many
in the ground probably felt India was wrecking cricket. But I don't
think you can ever mount that argument. Kapil's World Cup was
inspirational. Ganguly waving his shirt cemented India's attitude,"
argues Nandy. That the NatWest victory was not a fluke was evident in
2003 when India reached the World Cup finals in South Africa.Among those who can never forget the 1983 World Cup win at Lord's is Mohinder "Jimmy" Amarnath. "I got everything a cricketer desires in his life. A World Cup victory and the man of the match award, both at Lord's. What more could you want? Not just mine, it was Indian cricket's most defining moment," says Amarnath.
Mazumdar says the 1983 win helped India reinvent the game. Ganguly's 2002 gesture told the English fans another story: we don't care. "That was the start of the rise of Indian cricket. It has never looked back," he says. And now, the 100th Test will show that India is to cricket what America has been to post-war geopolitics: 'the fat boy in the canoe', as Dean Rusk, US secretary of state from 1961 to 1969, once described his country. "For as long as India continues to produce a strong team, Test cricket will have a (relatively) secure future," says Gideon Haigh, considered one of the game's finest writers.
Click here to EnlargeHaigh
finds instant support from English veteran Graham Gooch, whose record
456 runs in a match against India in 1990 (July 26-31) at Lord's is
still counted among the finest in the history of cricket. "I would love
some more jelly bean incidents," says Gooch, now a coach. "I am
expecting two top teams to play some serious cricket," Gooch told India Today in a telephone interview.Two decades later, Gooch distinctly remembers the match, and of course, the catch that wicketkeeper Kiran More missed after he had edged young medium pacer Sanjeev Sharma. "That was too early in the innings, I was on 36," adds Gooch. England won the series and Sanjeev Sharma never played for India again.
Former Indian batsman Dilip Vengsarkar, among the few Indians with great scores at Lord's, feels the "life" offered to Gooch was suicidal for India. He's had his share of pressure moments. He remembers the second innings of the 1979 Lord's Test where India, struggling to save the Test, were 323 runs behind when he walked onto the ground and, along with Gundappa Viswanath, resurrected India's fortunes. Vengsarkar (103) and Vishwanath (113) scored 210 runs in their third-wicket partnership against an attack comprising Bob Willis, Phil Edmonds, Mike Hendrick and Ian Botham. "He saved the day for us at Lord's," says Yashpal Sharma, who made his debut in that Test and is now a national selector. Vengsarkar scored another century (157) in his second foray at Lord's in 1982, even though England won the game by seven wickets. Ironically, it was his third consecutive hundred-the first by an Indian-at Lord's in 1986 that helped India win the Test by five wickets and the series 2-0.
Click here to Enlarge"Indians
are on a high in the West Indies but England, obviously, will press the
home advantage. It's a routine match, made important by a few historic
figures," says Sunil Gavaskar, who is busy packing his bags for a long
England summer of commentary.Ahead of the historic Lord's Test, astrologers have jumped into the fray. Bejan Daruwalla predicted an Indian victory but warned of tensions on the field. "It will be a tough, thrilling encounter," says Daruwalla.
Asked about the 1971 series, especially the first Test at Lord's, Gavaskar clams up. A bad memory that the Little Master would rather forget. His dismissal for 36 was eventually blamed on a dog that strolled onto the ground. A rattled Gavaskar was out soon. On the last day, as India chased 183 for a win, John Snow, the England all-rounder, crashed into Gavaskar while the latter responded to a call from wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer.
The incident provoked Alec Bedser, the chairman of selectors, Billy Griffith, secretary of the Test & County Cricket Board, and Ray Illingworth, the England captain, to reprimand Snow in the dressing room even before the all-rounder could say sorry. Snow apologised to Gavaskar later but the match was eventually washed out with England needing two wickets and India 38 runs short of victory. Snow was dropped for the next Test. India made history, securing a 1-0 series victory.
"The
first Test was a draw but the applause of the MCC members lining the
stairs inside the Lord's pavilion still rings in my ears. For me, Lord's
is magic," says Ajit Wadekar, captain of the 1971 team. For him, the
100th Test marks a paradigm shift in the way cricket is played, and
controlled across the world.Wadekar is candid enough to admit that while the 1971 series was an eye-opener for Indian cricket, the landmark event was eclipsed three years later when England creamed India 2-0 in 1974 under Mike Denness. It was a nightmare for fans to see India bowled out for 42 (inside the first 40 minutes of the fourth morning's play, off just 17 overs) in the third Test at Lord's, unable to face the firepower of Geoff Arnold, with figures of 8-1-19-4, and Chris Old, 8-3-21-5, who ripped apart the batting lineup. India lost the game by an innings and 285 runs.
Sachin Tendulkar, who is just one ton away from a 100 international centuries, will be looking to make the milestone at Lord's. "Lord's is the ground where all the players dream of getting a hundred. I am no different," Tendulkar told reporters in London four years ago during the 2007 series. He is an honorary life member of the Marylebone Cricket club headquartered at Lord's.
The excitement is building. Not just at Lord's. India will also play to packed houses in the other three Tests, one Twenty20 match and five odis as well. "This will be a super series," says BCCI's Ratnakar Shetty.
Cricket's controlling body, the Dubai-based ICC, wants to celebrate the moment by calling supporters across the world to select the greatest Test XI of all time. Voting, which closes on July 13, will help ICC shortlist 60 players in five categories-two opening batsmen, three middle-order batsmen, a wicket keeper, three fast bowlers and one spinner. They will then be voted on, argued over and fought online, but not on the field. For that showdown, it's all at Lord's, starting July 21.
Indian cricket team
Parsis | The Cricket Cauldron
L-R: Pakistan Team Lined up in the third Test Match against India Jan. 1955; Waqar Hasan [ left ] and Imtiaz Ahmed [Right] coming out to resume their record 7th wicket stand of 308 runs in the 2nd Test Match between Pakistan and New Zealand played on October 26,-31 1956 at the Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore. Imtiaz Ahmed became the first wicketkeeper-batsmen in the world to score a double century.
L-R: Pakistan vs. India - 3rd Test played in January 1955 at the Bagh-e-Jinnah , Lahore. India Captain V.M.H. Mankad leads his team on to field; Pakistan and West Indies teams at Lahore , Bagh-e-Jinnah 1948.
The first Indian team to tour England: The Parsi team in 1886.
WHILE we celebrate Pakistan’s sensational victory in the Asia Cup against Bangladesh at Dhaka we must also not ignore the fact that the game that we are passionately in love with owes much to the pioneering work initially taken up by the Parsi community who were the first ones in the subcontinent to fall in love with the English game and then popularise it in the length and width of the country.
Played by the sailors, tradesmen and mariners of the East India company, cricket traces its history in the subcontinent as long back as 1721 when on the west coast of Cambay near Bombay (now Mumbai) and in Kutch the Englishmen were seen indulging in it.
The Parsis settled in these areas having migrated from Iran nearly a thousand years ago being well suited because of their cool and quiet temperament very similar to the Englishmen.
Therefore, they were the first to adopt the game which later was picked up by the Hindus and Muslims as East India Company spread its wings and British Raj took over which resulted in the soldiers of the army posted in garrison towns making it even more popular.
Inspired and encouraged, the Parsis then formed the Oriental Cricket Club in Bombay in 1846 and then a Parsi Cricket Club backed up by one A.B. Patel to play regularly against the Europeans.
That of course gave them the idea of touring England, the mother country of the game with which they had fallen in love with.
The first two teams from India, therefore, to leave the shores in 1886 and in 1888 to tour England consisted of only Parsi players.
The one in 1886 was led by one Dhanjishaw H. Patel, an underhand bowler, and also in the team were three Parsis — Pestonji Dinshaw Dastur, Dinshaw D. Khambatta and Burorji P. Balla — from Karachi.
Their tour was a huge failure for the fact that they were not trained and experienced to play against the English bowlers and batsmen. In 28 matches on the tour, they lost 19, drew eight and won only once against the Normanhurst team.
What is important of course is that this team played two very important matches, one against MCC at Lord’s which they lost by an innings and 224 runs and in which W.G. Grace took 11 for 44 runs and scored 63 before being caught by Balla, the Karachi cricketer. I suppose Dastur, Balla and Khambatta remain the only Karachiites to have played against Grace.
The other important match that they played was at Great Windsor Park against the grandson of Queen Victoria Prince Christian Victor in which his brother Prince Albert also played.
Not forgetting of course the match against Lord Sheffield XI in which Alfred Shaw, the man who bowled the first ball in Test cricket in 1877 against Australia also played.
Dastur of Karachi, whose highest score on tour was 89 against North Riding at Middlesborough in Yorkshire, also had the honour of leading the batting averages of the tour.
Keen as I was to trace these Karachi men who pioneered Karachi cricket I managed to discover through Iqbal Umar, a former president of Karachi Gymkhana, the 79-year-old grandson of Khanbahadur Pestonji Dastur only a few months ago. Darius Dastur, the grandson, was delighted when I told him of his grandfather’s achievements which he did not seem to know.
He moaned the fact that he did not even have his picture in the family. When I told him that I have it in my collection, he was over the moon; even more happy when I presented him the group photo of the 1886 Parsis in England.
Balla’s and Khambatta’s families sadly still remain untraced.
In 1926, Dastur’s son Manek Dastur also played at Karachi Gymkhana against Arthur Gilligan’s MCC team scoring 32 and 38 for Parsis and Muslims and 1 and 61 for All Karachi before he died in a motorcycle accident at Macleod Road (now I.I. Chundrigar Road) trying to avoid a Makrani pedestrian.
As cricket established its roots, India produced great Parsi cricketers like Polly Umrigar, Nari Contractor and Farukh Engineer, Rusi Surti to name a few.
Karachi Parsi Institute (KPI) formed in 1893 could also boast fine cricketers one of which Rusi Dinshaw toured India with Pakistan team in 1952 but did not play in Tests.
A.H. Mehta was even on the staff of Lancashire at Old Trafford but failed to qualify as their main player. Jamshed Khudadad Irani played for India.
Other fine Karachi cricketers were S.K. Irani, S.R. Mavalvala, Rusi and Homi Mobed the nephew of Minochehr Mobed who was one of the umpires with Daud Khan when Pakistan beat MCC in 1951 in an unofficial Test at Karachi Gymkhana by four wickets to gain Test status.
Minochehr Mobed had played in the Sind Pentangular in 1919 and his nephew had toured England with Pakistan Eaglets.
Not forgetting the services of Bomi Khambatta, Jagus and Jamshed Markar, the diplomat and cricket commentator who as ambassador, high commissioner and Pakistan envoy to UNO excelled in his job.
Let us therefore pay them a huge tribute for their contribution and wish them a ‘Happy Nauroz’.
File:1932 Indian Test Cricket team.jpg
(Left) The senior Naweb of Pataudi, Ifitikhar Ali Khan, captain of the 1946 touring side, pictured in the early 1930s. He is the only test cricketer to have played for both England
Ajit Wadekar has some interesting stories about Gavaskar, the batting mainstay in the Indian team which toured the West Indies in 1971.
Lahore Gymkhana Cricket Club
- A Great Innings
L-R: Pakistan Team Lined up in the third Test Match against India Jan. 1955; Waqar Hasan [ left ] and Imtiaz Ahmed [Right] coming out to resume their record 7th wicket stand of 308 runs in the 2nd Test Match between Pakistan and New Zealand played on October 26,-31 1956 at the Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore. Imtiaz Ahmed became the first wicketkeeper-batsmen in the world to score a double century.
L-R: Pakistan vs. India - 3rd Test played in January 1955 at the Bagh-e-Jinnah , Lahore. India Captain V.M.H. Mankad leads his team on to field; Pakistan and West Indies teams at Lahore , Bagh-e-Jinnah 1948.
Whilst British Colonial Rule reduced the dimensions of indigenous cultures, they nevertheless also raised many positive dimensions of life in the Indian continent of South Asia. The British left behind in South Asia a legacy of sports. Cricket, Squash, Snooker/Billiards, Bridge, Golf are some of the uniquely British contributions, which over time have been assimilated, innovated & dominated by the south Asian peoples.
Around 1885 to 1900, the British Company "Bahadur" [aka East India Company Inc.], as part of the celebrations of Queen Victoria’s birthday, built some of the finest architectural buildings of Lahore. The Museum, the old Punjab University campus on the Mall, the Lawrence Hall Library and the Mian Mir Institute [later the Lahore Gymkhana] were some of these buildings. Nestling within the old Lawrence Gardens, the Lahore Gymkhana Cricket Club (LGCC) sits inside the Bagh-e-Jinnah, originally called Lawrence Gardens. LGCC faces the Governor house with the Mall Road separating the main old Gymkhana Building and the Bagh-e-Jinnah garden grounds. The outer perimeter of the LGCC ground is ringed by tal,l giant Shisham and Peepal trees; other trees, each more than 80-100 years of age, still cover the gardens of Bagh-e-Jinnah and act as the lungs of central Lahore.
The LGCC cricket pitch is laid out in a north–south direction for the convenience of the cricket players, so that they are not blinded by the morning or evening sun. The bowling ends/ sightscreens are the Governor house end and the Police club end or the GOR [government officers residence] end. The LGCC main pavilion contains the players’ dressing rooms, showers, and bathrooms. There is a central high ceiling hall which is the museum. This contains memorabilia, old visiting cricket teams photographs, important LGCC cricket scores and players’ achievements at the ground.
The LGCC remains sacrosanct and of a special pedigree. Fazal Mahmood recalls that LGCC "was the most prestigious in the province. Every cricketer dreamt of playing there". These days about 40-overs matches are played on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Only club cricket players and members of the Lahore Gymkhana are allowed in. A few cricket lovers are allowed to sit and watch on the benches that space the circumference of the LGCC. This has allowed its grounds to be maintained at a very high level. The LGCC building’s architectural style is very similar to the Tollinton market, on the Mall next to the Museum.
Early LGCC Test Matches
1900- 1950s
The Maharajas of Jammu & Kashmir and Patiala, had regular cricket matches against Lahore Gymkhana. A match between the British Army and World XI, was played at LGCC in 1911. The World XI had most players from Gloucestershire and Lancashire while the Army team was drawn from the 87th Punjab, 17th Lancasters, 15th Sikhs and the King's Regiment. The World team won by 61 runs - one Henderson with 59, being the top scorer.
A team led by D.R. Jardine played here in the mid-1930s. The team had G.O. Allen, Hedley Verity, Earl Clark and Mitchell in it and played an unofficial Test against India here. The Verity-Mitchell combination apparently prevented the great Wazir Ali from scoring double figures in either innings. It was followed by a Jack Ryder led team that included the 'Governor-General', Charlie Macartney, in which Ryder, a former Test cricketer, hooked S.M. Nissar, then one of the fastest bowlers of the world, at will.
The ground's acceptance as a venue of standard saw Lord Tennyson's team play an unofficial Test here against India. The Indian team led for the first time by Vijay Merchant, including the debutant Vijay Hazare, Lala Amarnath, Mushtaq Ali, Amar Singh, lost. A Commonwealth XI also played here after the war, and included Keith Miller, Lindsay Hassett playing against a Punjab XI for whom both Imtiaz Ahmed and A.H. Kardar scored a century.
The ground hosted the first unofficial Test, against West Indies, from Nov 27 through to Nov 30, 1948, recording a draw. The West Indies led by Goddard, had G. Carew, J.B. Stollmeyer, C.L.Walcott, E.D.Weekes, K. Rickards, C.M. Watt, R.J. Christiani, G.A.Headley and J. Trim in the team. Pakistan led by Mian Mohammad Saeed had Nazar Muhammad , Imtiaz Ahmed, Maqsood Ahmed, Anwar Hussain, M.E.Z. Ghazali, M. Aslam, Fazal Mahmood, Shujauddin, M. Amin and Munawar Ali Khan. Imtiaz (76) and Nazar Mohammad (87) shared an opening stand of 148 runs in the first innings while Imtiaz Ahmed (131) and Mian Saeed (101) recorded a 205 runs stand in the second. Scores: Pakistan 241 and 285/6 dec. West Indies 308 and 98/1. Walcott scored 41, Weekes 55, Rickards 72 and Headley 57.
The Bagh-e-Jinnah cricket ground played host to yet another Commonwealth XI after independence. Led by J. Livingstone, with such luminaries like Frank Worrell, J.K. Holt, M. Oldfield, G. Tribe, W. Alley, Pettiford, Pepper, Lambert and Pope. Pakistan lost by an innings and 177 runs, scoring 176 and 66 respectively. Pepper posted 29-6-57-4 and 7.4-4-13-2 in the two innings while Tribe had figures of 33-13-39-4 and 10-8-8-5 in the second innings. The match was played from Nov 25 through to Nov 28, 1949.
The third Unofficial Test saw Pakistan beat Celyon (now Sri Lanka) on March 25,26,27,28, 1950 by an innings and 145 runs. Imtiaz Ahmed (127), Maqsood Ahmed (56), Asghar Ali (73), helped Pakistan to 362 while Fazal Mahmood (5/56, 3/48) and Khan Mohammad saw Ceylon restricted to 166 and 151.
The 4th Unofficial Test saw Pakistan draw with MCC here from Nov 15 through to Nov 18, 1951. MCC led by N.D. Howard had J. Robertson, R.T. Spooner, T.W. Graveney, D.B. Carr, A.J. Watkins, D. Shackleton, D.V.Brewin (wk), M.J. Hilton, J.B. Statham and R. Tattersall in the team. MCC scored 254 in the first innings and 308/1 in the second that saw Spooner and Graveney make unbeaten scores of 168 and 109 runs respectively. Pakistan posted 428, thanks mainly to Maqsood Ahmed (137 run out), Nazar Mohammad (66), Ghazali (86) and Kardar (48); a match that saw Hanif Mohammad's debut with 26 runs.
The Bagh-e-Jinnah cricket ground became a Test centre, the 35th Test ground in the world, when Pakistan played India after earning Test Status. The four-day Test was played from Jan 29 through to Feb 1, 1955 resulting in a draw. Pakistan made 328 in the first innings and declared at 136/5 in the second innings, with India replying with 251 and 74/2. Maqsood Ahmed got out for 99 while Gupte, the Indian leg spinner had figures of 73.5-33-133-5 in Pakistan's first innings. The Indians led by Mankad had Lala Amarnath as playing manager.
The Second Official Test between Pakistan and New Zealand was the first five-day match and was played, from Oct 26 through to October 31, 1955. It resulted in a Pakistan win by four-wickets due to some very sporting spirit from the Kiwis, who ran between over changes, to give Pakistan a chance to score the runs. Pakistan were 111/6 at one time, were rescued through a 308 run stand between Waqar Hassan (189) and Imtiaz Ahmed (209) to post 561. New Zealand led by Cave, scored 348 and 328 in their two innings and Pakistan posted the winning score of 117/6 in failing light, thanks to the sporting Kiwis who completed the required overs.
The Third and last Official Test match was played here between Pakistan and West Indies on March 26 through to March 31, 1959 and lost by Pakistan by an innings and 156 runs. West Indies scored 469 runs, thanks to Rohan Kanhai's 217 and an eye pleasing 72 by Sobers. Pakistan could only manage 209 and 104 in each innings where Wesley Hall recorded the only hat-trick on this ground and where Mushtaq Mohammad made his Test debut, lbw to Hall for 14.
LGCC – present: The Innings continues. 
LGCC main pavilion-2005
LGCC main pavilion-2005
As part of a general South Asian syndrome that buildings and gardens do not need any maintenance, the LGCC became a victim of this great malady. By 1980 it had succumbed to the ravages of time. The Ghost of Time breathed and demanded its pound of flesh. The LGCC main pavilion’s roof had started to leak. Historic group photographs, once part and parcel of the pavilion, were lost as a result of gross neglect, along with some masterly portraits of English governors of Punjab and some renowned Viceroys of India, endorsing the history of the patronage of this club. In those days the "Burra" sahibs [aka British gentry] witnessed the game from a vantage point where at present the score-board is located. A few cricket score-books remain, thought to be of little use by the petty thieves who had taken off with the rest of the LGCC valuables.
By 1980, due to the patronage of Gen. & Governor Gilani and Finance Minister and later Chief Minister and Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, the fortunes of LGCC started looking up. A total of Rs 1.5 crores [Rs 15 million] were spent on renovating the LGCC. The upgrading included new turf on the grounds with special soil & Dacca grass ["Khabbbal" or local grass was not used]. About 700-1000 daily visitors were stopped for a year from going into LGCC. A new turbine tube-well was installed [donated by an Azam Cloth Market businessman]. The edges of the ground were raised to act as a viewing stand. The idea of putting in a perimeter wall was discarded on the advice of Justice Bashiruddin. It is reported that once Nawaz Sharif saw the brown dried up grass, and the zealous grounds staff sprayed green paint on the grass on his subsequent visits. Benches were made with the letters LG in the metal supports, and shisham wood was used for the viewers benches tilted at a special comfortable angle. The sight screen [donated & still maintained by Syed Engineers] is made in metal in the same style as the Adelaide Cricket ground. Other contributions came from Majid Khan, Nadeem - the actor. Nayyar Ali Dada, the architect, was brought in for help with the Main Pavilion building. New two feet high pavilion iron railings replaced the original wooden rails in front of the main pavilion. New bathrooms, showers, lockers & floors were installed. The old steel support beams are still used. A new roof was put in and covered with red brick tiles. The second building now used as a club house for lunch has sofas & TV on the ground floor, a viewing gallery on the first floor, complete with sofas and easy chairs. In the early days it was used as a bar for drinks. The LGCC is today under a strong management team of Nasrullah Khan [Hon. Secretary] and Najum Latif [curator museum], Zia-ur Rehman [Chairman] & Zia Haider Rizvi [cricket convener] who work together in reconstructing the LGCC with its Museum for future generations . The black & white pictures presented here are courtesy Mr. Najum Latif, curator LGCC Museum.
Other LGCC matches & anecdotes:
After 1959, a stadium was built on Ferozepur Road which became the Test Cricket stadium. It was later named Qaddafi Stadium.The LGCC nevertheless, retains a grandeur as a cricket ground and wicket that easily surpasses any other cricket ground in Pakistan.
In 1946 Nazar Muhammad [a product of Islamia High School & College, Mamdot Cricket Club played for the North Zone, India; later his son Mudassar Nazar played for Pakistan] hooked the second ball [ a bouncer] of fast bowler Keith Miller [ the Australian XI famous fast bowler] for a six. The ball struck the Gymkhana pavilion clock and the glass was broken.
LGCC has continued to interest visiting teams, especially the English – MCC team. Virtually on every visit they have played official three-day features or unscheduled one-day games, like the 1980/82 Mike Brearley led MCC match against Lahore Gymkhana where Boycott notched up a century. The 1996 England team led by Atherton also played here against Lahore Gymkhana. Apparently Boycott had asked for a few local fast and spin bowlers for practice after which he left without even a thank you to these local cricketers. Dennis Lillee, the Australian fast bowler is reported to have been delighted with the LGCC pitch/wicket after he got his first wicket here.
On March 19, 2005 a group of members from Delhi High Court Bar and Lahore High Court Bar were brought to the LGCC at the request of some cricket fans of the Delhi High Court Bar. Ladies were also present on this occasion and "Gol Gappas" were served as snacks. Cricket was then played using tape covered tennis balls, a famous innovation of Pakistan cricketers.
In March 1999 former Cambridge Blue and Pakistani Captain, Majid Khan, invited the Cambridge University Cricket Club, to play at LGCC.
The great innings of Pakistan’s greatest cricket grounds will continue in The- South-Asian.com.
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