Fazal Mahmood writes about the 1954 tour of Pakistan’s cricket team to England:
All the members of Pakistan Cricket team were introduced to Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II at the Buckingham Palace. When my turn came, the Queen, while shaking hands with me, looked into my eyes and went on to meet the other players. After shaking hands with the last player, the Queen came back to me and said: “You are a Pakistani. How do you have blue eyes while others do not?’ ‘Your Majesty’, the people coming from the northern areas of Pakistan do have blue eyes,’ I told her. The Queen was amused.
Following is one of the memorable portraits of Fazal Mahmood
Cricket is one of the most popular games in Pakistan and the blue eyed Fazal Mahmood (1927-2005) was definitly one of the finest cricketers of Pakistan. He made a vital contribution to Pakistan cricket in its formative years.Fazal Mahmood played 34 test matches for Pakistan and took 139 wickets for 24.7 runs a piece. His most famous performance was against England at the Oval where he took 12 wickets for 99 runs as Pakistan won their match against England. Scorecard of this match can be seen here. He also took 13 wickets for 114 runs at Karachi when Pakistan won their maiden Test against Australia in October 1956. The scorecard of this match can be seen here. In First Class Cricket, Fazal Mahmood took 466 wickets at an average of 18.96.
Fazal Mahmood played an instrumental role in getting the newly independed Pakistan the Test status. His 6 wickets for 40 runs in an unofficial Test against the 1951-52 MCC tourists helped convince Lord’s of Pakistan’s suitability as a recognized trest match status country.
Following photo was taken on December 2, 1951 at the Karachi Gymkhana Ground. After Pakistan beat MCC, Pakistan’s Governer General Khwaja Nazimuddin (with raised hand in the photo) called Fazal Mahmood (Right in the photo) and Abdul Hafeez Kardar (2nd from the Left in the photo) next to him. He held their hands and said ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ (long live Pakistan). The jubilant 20000 strong Karachi crowd also joined in and soon the whole ground was shouting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ . The detailed scorecard of this match can be seen here.
Alex Bannister once said about Fazal Mahmood:
“On matting Fazal was often unplayable; on the grass he could be equally devastating. To the casual he might have appeared harmless and just another bowler putting his arm over. But what a guile and consumable skill went into every ball.”
Other than Cricket:
Fazal Mahmood left college with a Master’s degree in Economics and joined the Pakistan Police Service as an Inspector in September 1947. In 1976, he was promoted to Deputy Inspector General of Police. He also authored a well-documented manual entitles ‘Speed with Safety’ to streamline and update the road traffic system in Pakistan. He also wrote two books on religion entitled ‘Urge to Faith’ and ‘talash-i-haq’. He also wrote a book on cricket called ‘Fazal Mahmood and Cricket’ (1955).
References:
(1) Fazal Mahmood’s record at PCB database
(2) Cricinfo database on Fazal Mahmood
(3) From Dawn to Dusk by Fazal Mahmood
Akif–
I seriously think the queen was putting him in his place.
She had to know better than that. Asking someone why their eyes are blue is in the category of inquiries a clueless child might have.
She was saying, “Are you, you know…one of US? No? Well, how droll!” *titter*
Was she not? Else why bring it up at all.
Even, and perhaps especially, the British queen has their notions of racial supremacy to uphold.
Again I would say, if we think it over, we have to discount harmless curiosity as a motive. If she were from a small village in the rural areas or something it might be different. But she was the Queen, well travelled, well educated, definitely knows better, and never speaks carelessly or without understanding etiquette.
She wouldn’t violate that etiquette without having a very specific reason for it.
For one, some people here need a vacation badly. Secondly, I think the queen probably had the hots for him and that was just an attempt at an ice-breaker.
Anjum Niaz of Dawn wrote a fine piece a while ago about her encounter with the Oval test Pakistan team going for that very series on the ship to England. Fazl Mehmood as always got exceptional mention. People who don’t follow cricket need to understand whatever little is mentioned in above post is part of Fazal Mehmood folklore. You can’t mention his name and not talk about the Oval Test or how handsome he was or how blue his eyes were.
By the way, one interesting thing to add here.. he always followed matches at Qaddafi stadium sitting on a chair by himself near the sightscreen.
The evident racism of the Queen bothers me more than the subliminal unconscious racism of the post.
The Queen of England didn’t know that Afghans and Pakistanis have blue eyed people in their populations?
She didn’t know that? Really? I mean, she was the Empress, the ruler of the subcontinent, for chrissakes!
BTW asking, hey brown person, why you got blue eyes….would in my family be considered a VERY rude question.
Didn’t know I had better manners than the Queen of England.