Pakistan's Previous Tours of England
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Summarised Review Pakistan’s Previous Tours of England Arshad Chughtai Pakistan’s current tour of England is her 14th since the first in 1954. England’s past performance has been dominant having won 20 Test Matches against 9 by Pakistan. Still, Pakistan’s overall record in 77 Test Matches played between the two countries is pretty close, Pakistan won 18 against 22 by England. In the 62 years of Test cricket history between the two countries England has won 7 Test series (1962, 1967, 1971,1978,1982, 2006 and 2010) and Pakistan has won three (1987, 1991 and 1996), the remaining three were drawn (1954, 1974 and 2001). In fact the beginning for Pakistan was remarkable, they had created history to become the first side to win a Test match on first visit to England in 1954, the famous 24-run victory also enabled them to share the rubber through Fazal Mahmood’s outstanding bowling feat of 12 for 99 in the fourth and final Test at The Oval. Fazal Mahmood: Architect of Oval Test Victory -1954 Later, it took 28 more years for Pakistan to register another Test win against England when Mohsin Hasan Khan’s majestic knock of 200 earned them an impressive 10- wicket victory at Lord’s in 1982. However, Pakistan’s first ever series win (1-0) in England came in 1987 and was mainly attributed to skipper Imran Khan’s amazing bowling performance (10-77) at Headingley, Leeds which gave them an innings victory in the match which ultimately resulted in series win. Javed Miandad led Pakistan to second series win (2-1) in England in 1992. Wasim Akram had captained Pakistan in the last series win (2-0) in England in 1996. Perhaps Pakistan was a bit unlucky to lose the1971 series as Zaheer Abbas with his magnificent 274 and Asif Masood with 9 for 160 had nearly won the first Test match at Edgbaston, Birmingham but then rain and bad light on the fifth and final day robbed them of a certain victory. Later, a surprising batting collapse at Headingley, Leeds in the third Test reversed their fortunes. Nicknmed as 'Asian Bradman', Zaheer Abbas, His Majestic 274 Pakistan 1971 cricket team being presented to Her Majesty The in the Edgbaston Test in 1971 had nearly won Pakistan the Test Queen at Lord's but were undone by rain Again Pakistan had fought gallantly in the Cornhill 1982 Test series but lost it narrowly which perhaps was the best series ever played between the two teams in England to date. Such was the impressive performance of all-rounder Imran Khan in the series that he was declared as Player of the Series and despite defeat at Headingley, Leeds also as Player of the Match. Imran Khan Player of the Cornhill 1982 Test Series Interestingly Pakistan’s 1974 team in England so far is the only other team after Sir Donald Bradman’s Australian’s in 1948, to remain invincible on an England tour. Pakistan cricket team which remained undefeated throughout the 1974 Tour Pakistan’s two previous tours to England were marred by unfortunate incidents. In 2006, the Oval Test fiasco was stirred by controversial umpiring and a baseless ball tampering allegation by umpire Darrell Hair followed by a strong reaction by Pakistan Team which eventually resulted in first-ever forfeiture of a Test match in the entire history of Test cricket. Later, the spot-fixing scandal during the 2010 tour badly impaired Pakistan cricket. Pakistan cricket since then has been revived, ranked as 3 rd best team in the world their performance is vastly improved. They will now start afresh on the current tour and hopefully will perform creditably. Pakistan has, so far, won 29 ODI’s and 3 T20I's against 45 ODI’s and 11 T20I’s by England. 'Little Master' Hanif Mohammad during Asif Iqbal The 'Gay Cavalier' of Pakistan Mohammad Yousuf, prolific scorer of Pakistan’s tour in 1962. In 1967 he scored cricket, In 1967, Asif Iqbal (146) and 2006 series (631 runs Avg 90.14) but the an unbeaten 187 at Lords Intikhab Alam (51), put together 190 for Oval fiasco over-shadowed his the ninth wicket at The Oval, a world performance by bringing an unfortunate record that stood for 30 years. end to the Series AH kardar , Fazal Mahmood and Imtiaz Ahmad, Three Pioneers of Pakistan Cricket in England 1954 Her Majesty The Queen meets members of the Pakistan Team at Lord's 1967.