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Test Cricket Tours - Pakistan to England 1954

 

 

Tour of England 1954                Captain:  A H Kardar                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second Test tour

 

First Test-playing tour of England by Pakistan     

 

 

(April - September 1954)

 

On her first tour outside the Indian sub-continent Pakistan was again led by A H Kardar, elected to the captaincy unopposed after Mohammad Saeed had withdrawn.  Some members of the team had been to England for coaching at Gover's indoor school or on Pakistan Eaglets tours in 1952 and 1953, and the squad was strengthened by Khan Mohammad who had league experience. But the team knew it was in England to learn.

Not only was 1954 the gloomiest summer of the century, according to a survey of English weather in Wisden’s Almanack, with less sunshine than in any other year; the tourists also suffered one of the wettest seasons on record, producing difficult pitch conditions which only helped to emphasise their inexperience. Nevertheless they were beaten in only three first-class matches and won an historic Test victory at The Oval to halve the series.  No other team, not even Australia, had won a Test match on its inaugural tour of England.  Skipper Kardar noted how " ... the Cricket Board's policy of pinning faith on the youth of the country has paid rich dividends". The batting understandably struggled on damp, seaming pitches but Pakistan's bowling attack - Khan and Fazal  - made fine use of the conditions.  In the final Test at The Oval a now legendary performance by medium-fast bowler Fazal Mahmood (12 for 99) dismissed the England batsmen as they chased a low target, to win the match by 24 runs.

 

 

Other Pakistan Tours

 

 

Previous tour

India 1952-53

 

Next tour

West Indies 1957-58

 

Next tour of England

1962

 

 

 

Members of the Test tour party  (18)

 

Opening batsmen:  Hanif Mohammad, Alimuddin

Middle-order batsmen:  Maqsood Ahmed, Abdul Hafeez Kardar,  Waqar Hasan, Mohammad Aslam Khokar, Wazir Mohammad, Ebu Ghazali.

Wicketkeeper: Imtiaz Ahmed, Shakoor Ahmed.

Slow bowlers:  Khalid Wazir, Khalid Hasan, Shajauddin, Zulfiqar Ahmed.

Fast bowlers:  Fazal Mahmood, Ikram Elahi, Mahmood Hussain.

 

 

Alimuddin

23

 

RHB  opener

 

 

Fazal Mahmood

27

 

RFM   vice-captain

 

 

M E Z Ghazali

29

 

RHB   RM

 

 

Hanif Mohammad

19

 

RHB  opener

 

 

Ikram Elahi

21

 

RHB   RFM

 

 

Imtiaz Ahmed

26

 

RHB opener    WK

 

 

A H Kardar

29 

 

LHB   SLA   captain

 

 

Khalid Hasan

16

 

LBG

 

 

Khalid Wazir

18

 

RM

 

 

Mahmood Hussain

22

 

RFM

 

 

Maqsood Ahmed

29

 

RHB   RM

 

 

Mohammad Aslam

34

 

RHB    LB

 

 

Shakoor Ahmed

25

 

RHB   second WK

 

 

Shujauddin

24

 

SLA

 

 

Waqar Hasan

21

 

RHB

 

 

Wazir Mohammad

24

 

RHB

 

 

Zulfiqar Ahmed

27

 

OB

 

 

 

 

FLAG_Pakistan 

  

  

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

   (10 June 1954) :

         24 yrs 10 months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Test Appearances made before the tour

 

 

AH Kardar  5 + 3 for India,  Fazal Mahmood 5,  Hanif Mohammad  5,  Imtiaz Ahmed 5,  Maqsood Ahmed 5,  Waqar Hasan 5,  Mahmood Hussain 4,  Zulfiqar Ahmed 3,  Khan Mohammad  1, Wazir Mohammad  1,  Alimuddin 0,  Ghazali 0,  Ikram Elahi 0,  Khalid Hasan 0,  Khalid Wazir 0,  Mohammad Aslam 0, Shakoor Ahmed 0,  Shujauddin  0.

 

 

 

 

 

Team Officials

 

(Syed) Fida Hussain

Manager

Masood Salahuddin Khan

Assistant Manager

George Duckworth

Baggage - scorer

 

To keep down costs, the tourists had brought no scorer and it was anticipated that members of the team would share the task, until Duckworth was invited to join the tour party. He and Geoffrey Howard also acted as liaison for the tourists.

 

 

 

 

 

Selectors

 

Syed Makdoomzada Hassan Mahmood, Chief Minister of Bahawalpur (chairman),  S Nazir Ali,  M I Merchant, Group-Captain M M A Cheema,  with A H Kardar (captain) co-opted.

 

 

 

 

 

Selection

 

The names of the captain (A H Kardar) and manager (S F Hussain) were given out on 31 January.

Fida Hussain, 45, from the Pakistan Civil Service, was Commissioner in Lahore Division. He was after independence the President of West Punjab Cricket Association, and became President of the B.C.C.P. in 1958.

The assistant manager, Salahuddin, had played for All-India in representative matches against Ryder's team back in 1935, and for Pakistan Railways.

 

Trials:  On 9 February the selectors announced the names of 35 players for the two trial matches in Bahawalpur.

Unavailable: Mian Mohammad Saeed ; Khan Mohammad, a Lancashire League professional with Lowerhouse, was not available, except for the Test matches.

The following were excluded after the trials:  Asghar Ali, Badaruddin Malik, Iqbal Quereshi, Mohammad Amin, Mohammad Jasim, Mohammad Nissar, Mohammad Ramzan, Munawarul Haq, Murowwat Hussain, Raees Mohammad, Sajjad Ahmed, Shuja-ud-din Butt, Yawar Saeed and Yousuf Jaffir.

 

Tour party announced : 18 February 1954.

Reserves :  The three named reserves were Mohammad Amin, Munawarul Haq, Yawar Saeed.

 

 

 

 

 

Travel

 

There was a preparation camp at Bahawalpur between 6 and 25 March 1954.

The team assembled at Karachi on Sunday 11 April and sailed at 6pm the next day on the Polish ship 'Batory'.

 The ship called at Bombay on 14 April and docked at Suez at 2am on 23 April. Following a brief visit to the Pyramids and Sphinx, the team breakfasted at the Gezira Club and played a match.  After the 24-hour stay, the 'Batory' sailed on, arriving at Southampton on 2 May 1954.

 

 

 

 

 

On-tour selection

 

A H Kardar,  Fazal Mahmood,  Fida Hussain

 

 

 

 

Reinforcements

 

By prior arrangement, Khan Mohammad, 26, played in two of the Test matches. He was also available for three other games. It was unclear whether the selectors had intended that Khan should play in all four Test matches but he was in any case unfit for two of them with a leg injury.

 

 

 

 

 

Fixtures/Results

 

† Cairo

Gezira Sporting Club

Won 166 r

† Osterley

Indian Gymkhana

Drawn

Worcester

Worcestershire

Won 8 w

Cambridge

Cambridge University

Drawn

Leicester

Leicestershire

Drawn

Oxford  

Oxford University

Won 9 w

Lord’s

M C C

Drawn

Hove      

Sussex

Drawn

Portsmouth

Hampshire

Drawn

† Torquay

Devon

Drawn

Cardiff

Glamorgan

Drawn

LORD’S

ENGLAND  First Test

DRAWN

Edinburgh

Scotland

Won 10 w

Trent Bridge

Nottinghamshire

Won 8 w

Catterick

Combined Services

Drawn

Sheffield

Yorkshire

Lost 7 w

TRENT BRIDGE

ENGLAND Second Test

LOST inns 129 r

Derby

Derbyshire

Drawn

Old Trafford

Lancashire

Won  6 w

Northampton

Northamptonshire

Drawn

Kennington Oval

Surrey   

Drawn

OLD TRAFFORD

ENGLAND   Third Test

DRAWN

Taunton

Somerset

Drawn

Swansea

Glamorgan

Drawn

Edgbaston

Warwickshire

Drawn

Cheltenham

Gloucestershire

Drawn

KENNINGTON OVAL

ENGLAND  Fourth Test

WON  24 r

Lord's

Canada  

Won inns 67 r

Southend

Essex

Drawn

Canterbury

Kent

Won  9 w

Lord’s

Middlesex

Won  140 r

† Luton 

Club Conference

Won 73 r

Hastings

An England XI

Drawn

Scarborough

T N Pearce’s XI    

Lost 9 w

 

 

† not first-class

 

 

§  one-day international

 

 

 

Test appearances on tour

 

4 -  Fazal Mahmood, Hanif Mohammad, Imtiaz Ahmed, A.H.Kardar, Maqsood Ahmed, Waqar Hasan.

3 -  Alimuddin,  Shujauddin.

2 -  M.E.Z.Ghazali,  Mahmood Hussain,  Khalid Wazir,  Khan Mohammad,  Wazir Mohammad,  Zulfiqar Ahmed.

1 -  Khalid Hassan,  Mohammad Aslam.

0 -  Ikram Elahi, Shakoor Ahmed.

 

 

 

 

 

Highlights

 

  Khalid Hasan became the youngest Test cricketer (aged 16 years 352 days) on his debut at Nottingham.

  Fazal Mahmood took  12 wickets for 99 runs, while Imtiaz Ahmed held seven catches, all off Fazal’s bowling, in the victory at The Oval.

 

 

 

 

 

Tour Summary

 

 

 P

 W

L

 D

Aban

Test Matches

  4

  1

1

  2

-

Other first-class matches

26

  8

2

16

-

Minor matches

  4

  2

0

  2

-

All Matches

34

11

3

20

-

 

 

 

 

Return to Pakistan

 

Khalid Wazir did not return to Pakistan but settled to live in England after the tour. 

The team left Waterloo, London, by train for Southampton, where they embarked on the 'Batory' on 24 September.  The ship berthed at Karachi on 11 October.

 

 

 

 

Finances

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written accounts of the tour

 

"Test Status on Trial"    by A H Kardar

"Pakistan vs England"  by M H Maqsood and  M I Merchant

"Shabash! Pakistan"   by Sultan F Husain

"Pakistan on Cricket Map"   by Qamaruddin Butt

 

 

 

 

 

Next Test series

 

v India 1954-5 

v New Zealand 1955-6

v Australia 1956-7

 

 

 



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