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
Owais Mughal:
Sorry, I have no recollection of the Fast Bowler Abdul Wahab you have mentioned.
Deeda-i-Beena, You are correct that Fazal practised at Ravi Gymkhana.
By any chance do you know a right-arm fast bowler of 50s by the name Abdul Wahab. His record is here. He played Club cricket in Lahore in 50s and later first class cricket from Karachi.
I will keep my comments to Cricket.
Here is some first hand Cricket Trivia of the Fifties.
Yes I did play club cricket in those days at the Universal Club Lahore, in the B team or the Young Universal. Q.D. Butt was the “Jaggat Kuptaan” and all these top players would show up after their practice sessions at their respective clubs. He would also write regularly on Cricket in the Pakistan Times and had good advice listened to by all.
Several big names mentioned actually practiced at Universal. Fazal I think practiced at Ravi Gymkhana at the Minto (now Iqbal) Park. Mian Saeed, Father of Test Cricketer Yawar Saeed was an important personality at the elite Lahore Gymkhana Club, which was the ground where Test Matches were played. Mian Saeed seeing the talent, arranged Fazal to marry his daughter.
There were other great names and we must remember Khan Mohammad bowling from the other end with Fazal. They would run terror into their opponents spines. Then there was Mehmood Hussain, Shuja, Aslam, Nazar and of course the mastermind and suave Captain Kardar, in addition to the names mentioned by others here. I had the good fortune of interviewing Hafeez Kardar on Radio Pakistan, on the eve of his departure leading the first-ever Pakistan Team to India. The Lucknow Test is history.
So much on going down the Memory Lane.
By the way, UET Lahore folks here would remember Fazal Mahmood’s brother – Prof. Khilji – who was my own professor of Civil Engineering and later became the Vice Chancellor of the Engineering University.
It is rather sad that the comments took the “blue eyes” turn they did. However, given that most readers here would never have seen Fazal Mahmood play makes it not really surprising.
Fazal Mahmood was, arguably, amongst the greatest cricketers produced not just by Pakistan but anywhere in the world. His skill as a fast bowler was superb as his record testifies, but in some ways his presence was even more than his skills. Not until Imran Khan reached his peak did one man define and change cricket in Pakistan as did Fazal. Some of those who have seen both Fazal and Imran play insist that Fazal’s mark on Pakistan was deeper.It does not matter if it was, but the point is that we are talking about a cricketer with a very deep impact.
Certainly, the fact that Pakistan was able to get Test status as quickly as it did was a testimony to A.H. Kardar’s team – some would say the single best Pakistan cricket team ever. The team was an amazing line-up…. Hanif, Imtiaz, Fazal, Merry Max….. but within that line-up and within those early victories – first in Karachi and then at the Oval – it was Fazal Mahmood that rose even higher than the giants (including Hanif Mohammad, the little giant) around him. Maybe, I am a little unfair here because it was the Hanif-Fazal pair that was at the center of powerhouse (just as the Imran-Miandad pair would become the center of another powerhouse later). But my point really is that Fazal Mahmood is much more than his blue eyes … he is one of the very few cricketers anywhere who not only defined the game when he played but without whom teh game (at least in Pakistan) would really not have been the same.