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Anonymous at May 21, 2013 0
Exactly 16 years ago from now, the two biggest cricket archrivals Pakistan and India were facing each other and the most stylish left-hand batsman of his time was at the crease amid an enthusiastic Chennai crowd. You must be reminiscing about the day. Yes, it was May 21, 1997 when Saeed Anwar played one of the best ODI innings in the sport’s history in an Azadi Cup match.

[caption id="attachment_1052" align="alignright" width="300"]One of the most successful Pakistani openers, Saeed Anwar was considered as a master of one-day cricket (Photo: Reuters) FILE PHOTO One of the most successful Pakistani openers, Saeed Anwar was considered as a master of one-day cricket (Photo: Reuters) FILE PHOTO[/caption]

Anwar scored 194 off 146 and was, unfortunately, dismissed at a time when he was just six runs short of marking an important milestone in the cricket history – an ODI double-century. No player had reached 200 in one-day format before that and, in fact, Anwar was the only batsman to cross 190. He broke the 189-run record of great batsman Vivian Richards, set in 1984 against England.

The dominance of Anwar in the game can be gauged by the fact that as many as 118 runs in his innings were made in boundaries – 22 fours and five sixes. Moreover, playing a record-breaking innings on the rivals’ home ground when a player felt sick was itself miraculous. Piggybacking on Anwar’s exceptional performance, Pakistan later won the match by 35 runs.

Though Anwar had expertise in playing strokes on the off side, his pull shots were also quite superb, and Anil Kumble will never forget it as he was slapped 24 runs in an over by the left-hander.

One of the most successful Pakistani openers, Anwar was considered as a master of one-day cricket. With 8824 runs in 247 ODIs, he is third among the highest run getters for Pakistan. Anwar has many other ODI records under his belt, for instance, three consecutive ODI centuries and most ODI centuries (20) for Pakistan, but the innings that helped him win instant fame was none other than this.

For years, Saeed Anwar had the good fortune that no batsman succeeded to break his record despite coming so closer. Even after leveling Anwar’s score, Zimbabwe’s Charles Coventry had to return back to the pavilion not out with a broken heart. But thirteen years after in February 2010, the great Sachin Tendulkar scored a double-century and not only broke Anwar’s record but also had his name recorded in cricket history as the first double centurion. Maybe it was God’s will that he chose a batsman like Tendulkar to break Anwar’s 13-year old record. And yes, the bowler who ended Anwar’s 194-innings was also Tendulkar.

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Anonymous at May 02, 2013 0
If Vivan Richards is the “King of Cricket” then the only player who should be rightfully called as the “Prince of Cricket” is Brian Lara. The short-heighted player unfortunately emerged at the scene of West Indian cricket at a time when ‘black-storm’ had lost their prime and a handful of outstanding player left in their individual capacity.  But even in that era, Lara, fond of playing big innings, posted such records that are enough to shed light on his brilliance. In the records book, Lara’s name stands out because of two great innings: 400 (not out) runs in a Test innings and 501 (not out) runs in first-class cricket.

[caption id="attachment_782" align="alignright" width="300"]Brian Lara claimed many a record in his career ranging from 1990 to 2007 (Photo: AP) Brian Lara claimed many a record in his career ranging from 1990 to 2007 (Photo: AP)[/caption]

Born in Trinidad on May 2, 1969, Lara faced some great bowlers of his time with unmistakable gumption. On the one hand there were Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, and on the other, there were Shane Warn and Glenn McGrath, but nobody could stop Lara from climbing the success ladder. Pakistan have never win a series on the Caribbean soil, but the way Lara single-handedly led West Indies to victory against Australia in 1999 by scoring 213 and 153 in two innings is a clear proof of his magnificence.

Before Lara, world would not have watched any batsman play such big and fast innings except Don Bradman. Lara was the second player of the modern times who started his career from Pakistan. Sachin Tendulkar made his debut on November 1989 in Karachi and Lara began his Test career from Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium. In the fifth match of his career, Lara played a superb innings of 277 in Sydney against Australia. And then the ground became his favourite, so much that he named his daughter after the stadium. It was the start of 1993 and the end of West Indies’ mightiness in the cricket world. At a time when Australia were leading 1-0 in the five-match series, Lara’s double-century helped his side came back, and after ending the third Test in Sydney in a draw, they defeated Australia in the next Adelaide and Perth Tests, claiming the series 2-1. The Adelaide Test was the same match in which West Indies won by the lowest margin ever: the beat Australia by just one run.

Lara did not look back after that and kept on playing key role in West Indies victories by posting big innings. In 1994, Lara played a record-breaking innings of 375 against England in St John’s, Antigua. He faced 538 balls and scored 45 fours in the innings and broke the record of 365 made by his countryman Sir Garfield Sobers in 1958. It was the last Test of the series and West Indies had already won the series after having badly defeated England in the first three Tests. However, in the St John’s Test, Lara avenged the loss West Indies faced at Bridgetown fourth Test. By making the record at the age of just 24, Lara showed how great batsman he was. Moreover, it was only the 16th Test of his career.

That was the memorable time of Lara’s career and he also played 501-run unbeaten innings in first-class in those days. Playing for the Warwickshire against Durham, he broke the record of Pakistan’s Hanif Mohammad that was 499 runs.


Lara scored an overall 11,953 runs in 131 Tests at 52.88, including 34 centuries and 48 half-centuries. Another great innings in Lara career was when he regained his record of biggest Test innings. Lara first set the record against England in 1994 when he scored 375 runs. Australia’s Matthew Hayden broke the record in 2003 by scoring 380 runs against Zimbabwe at Perth. But in 2004, Lara again snatched the record at the same ground by playing historic innings against England. The 400-run unbeaten innings by Lara was not decisive as was his previous one because West Indies had lost the series, but his performance proved that at the time he was the best batsman in the world in individual capacity. Lara faced 582 deliveries during the gigantic innings and scored four sixes and 43 fours. The innings gave Lara eternal fame in the game’s history as he is the only batsman to have scored quadruple century in the longest format of the game.


This make Lara the one and only player in the cricket history who has scored century, double-century, triple-century, quadruple century and quintuple century in his career. And this is the record that is not even held by Bradman and Tendulkar, and God knows how long it will take for any batsman to equal Lara in this regard. Lara scored nine double-hundreds in his Test career and is second after Don Bradman who scored 12 double-centuries.

On the other hand, he played 299 ODIs, scoring 10,405 runs at 40.48. He scored 19 100s and 63 50s. He is one of the few batsmen who have crossed the 10,000-run mark in the one-day cricket.

However his innings that received the greatest acclaim by the critics was the one he played in 1999 against Australia at Bridgetown, leading West Indies to victory by scoring 153 unbeaten runs. Famous magazine Wisden regarded it as the second-best innings of all time. According to the magazine, Don Bradman’s 270-run innings against England in 1937 was the best-ever innings of the game’s history. In the 1999 match, Australia under the captaincy of Steve Waugh, and having bowlers like Shane Warne and McGrath, set a winning target of 308 runs for West Indies, who then lost their five wickets on just 105 runs. The chances of West Indies coming back in the match were almost absent. But Lara did what was almost unexpected. He added 133 runs in the sixth wicket with Jimmy Adams. But as soon as Adams was dismissed, West Indies lost two more wickets. Now Lara found a partner in Curtly Ambrose and made a partnership of 54 runs in the ninth wicket, where the latter’s share was of only 12 runs. When the West Indians were only six runs short of achieving the target, Ambrose was sent packing. Now a win was only a matter of one ball for Australia and they seemed poised to avenge the 1994 Adelaide loss. But Lara ended the innings before Australia, playing a beautiful cover drive against Jason Gillespie. You can imagine the reaction from the spectators. The stadium burst into applause. With the help of one six and 19 fours Lara scored 153 off 256 and remained not out. The innings helped West Indies win the series 2-1 and Steve Waugh regarded it as the best match of his career.


Before the historic Bridgetown’s innings, Lara played a pivotal role in West Indies win at Kingston, Jamaica, scoring brilliant 213 runs.


However, even the presence of a player like Lara could not solve the team’s disciplinary issues. That’s why he could not become as good leader as he was a batsman. Although he tried to restore the team’s might by portraying himself as an example, but to no avail. Apart from team, even the board seemed not to cooperate with him. Because of this reason, there are only a few matches in Lara’s career that are considered memorable for West Indies. Especially after 196, when Richie Richardson announced his retirement, the team took a declining path.

West Indies also did not live up to expectations in 2007 World Cup at home and with the end of the tournament, the ‘shining moon’ disappeared from the sky for ever.
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Anonymous at April 18, 2013 0

Read this in Urdu


It was a warm April evening in the deserts of the UAE that raised the rivalry between Pakistan and India to its zenith. Four runs required on the last ball, Javed Miandad’s historic six and Pakistan’s memorable one-wicket win – that was the epic tale of Pakistan’s first ever victory in a one-day tournament.

[caption id="attachment_603" align="alignright" width="285"]The unfortunate Chetan Sharma tried to bowl a Yorker to Javed Miandad, but it turned into a full-toss. Miandad swung his bat; umpire’s both hands went up in the air (Photo: Getty Images) The unfortunate Chetan Sharma tried to bowl a Yorker to Javed Miandad, but it turned into a full-toss. Miandad swung his bat; umpire’s both hands went up in the air (Photo: Getty Images)[/caption]

The fans who still remember the boom of the six may never ever forget it. Such interesting matches can be counted on the fingers of one hand, but the fame won by this match seems incomparable. After all, the match was between the two greatest opponents of the cricket world. Given the context of the match, one can visualize the scene at the stadium of Sharjah.

Chasing a 246-run target, Miandad was the only Pakistani batsman who put up resistance against Indian bowlers and, eventually, helped the team win the match, snatching it from the opponents’ clutches.

There were prizes galore for Miandad after that six. From Mercedes car to diamond bracelet costing $80,000, Miandad was warmly welcomed by Arab’s sheikhs and prominent Pakistani figures and shot to eternal fame after the song “Ek chhakkay kay Javed ko 100 lakh milengay” (Javed will get millions for one six).

The six imbued Pakistan with so much confident that they dominated India for many years to come. And India was so badly affected that they had to struggle a lot for a win against Pakistan. The attitude of Pakistan team as a whole also changed drastically and it may be a continuation of that historic win that Pakistan claimed 1992 World Cup; and that too was because of Miandad’s riveting performance.

Miandad reminisces about the moment in these words: “Poor Chetan Sharma. They say he did try for a yorker, but the ball slipped out of his hand. Or perhaps it was the fact that I was standing well forward of the batting crease that threw him off his length. Whatever the mysterious origins of that last delivery, it ended up being the perfect ball for me and for Pakistan - a full-toss at the right height, slightly towards leg, all I had to do was take a swing and it sailed out of the ground.

“After that, it was pandemonium. We had won, Pakistan had won, Tauseef had won, I had won. What a match! It is one of the best memories of my life.”
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Anonymous at February 16, 2013 0
Only a few bowlers in cricket history have such a beautiful and flowing action, that’s why Michael Holding was called ‘Whispering Death’. Strangely this title was given to him by umpires, not by his fellow or foe players. Umpires used to say that he passed them so quietly they couldn’t feel an extremely fast bowler going through.

[caption id="attachment_242" align="alignright" width="199"]Because of his swift bowling action, Michael Holding was known as “Whispering Death” (Photo: Getty Images) Because of his swift bowling action, Michael Holding was known as “Whispering Death” (Photo: Getty Images)[/caption]

Celebrating his 58th birthday today, Holding is popular for his commentary only among the cricket fans of modern era like us. But there was a time the bowler was a death penalty for batsmen world over. Representing West Indies in 60 Tests and 102 One-day Internationals, he picked up 391 wickets in his international career, 249 in Tests with an average of 23.38 and 142 in ODIs at 21.36.

Most important aspect of his career was his performance in away matches. Like he has got five wickets in an innings 13 times in his career, out of which he was at the opponents’ country 11 times.

No cricket fan can forget his performance against England in 1976, when he took eight wickets in first innings and six in second. He devastated the English batting line up and helped his side win 3-0. About that match Pakistan’s former coach late Bob Wolmer believed that Oval’s pitch was a heaven for batsmen but Holding’s destructive bowling and Vivian Richards’ magnificent batting which inflicted defeat on England. Although Tony Greig had claimed to mop the floor with West indies, nothing like that happened. West Indies won the series with Holding and Andy Roberts’ wreaking havoc in bowling and Vivian Richards’ superb batting performance.

Another highlight of Holding’s career was his performance in New Zealand tour where West Indian team had arrived after defeating Australia in their homeland. West Indian players were unhappy about the standard of umpiring on first day. Holding lost his temper on second day when he did not get the decision for out and kicked the stumps at batting end. In fact, seven lbw decisions were given on first day and the guest team believed that umpires were partial towards the hosts.  Holding, who was not happy with these happenings, got furious when umpire John Bestie didn’t declare John Parker out - caught behind the wickets and gave a boot to stumps.

Cricket has produced many memorable rather magical moments – one of them happened in March 1981. The occasion was England-West Indies Test in Bridgetown, Barbados. Where the great English cricketer Geoffrey Boycott faced, what termed by many experts as, ‘the best over of Test history’ including Martin Williamson, the executive editor of popular cricket website Cricinfo. Boycott couldn’t play the first five balls of this over by Holding and eventually lost his off stump on the last ball making the spectators go crazy. By the way it was the same Boycott who now partners with Holding in commentary box. In Boycott’s view he did not face any deliveries faster than these in his career. Bob Wolmer too used to say that Holding was the fastest he had faced.

Unfortunately they didn’t have speed radars back then otherwise his speed might have made records. He is one of the history’s fastest, anyways.

Besides being a great player he is also an exciting commentator with an eye for cricket affairs. He has covered many memorable cricket moments in his typical Jamaican accent. Being a fast bowler himself he has immense fondness for this art and it was evident from his immediate comments regarding the young Pakistani fast bowler, Muhammad Amir being involved in spot fixing scandal. He got his eyes wet while commenting on the match on Sky Sports.  Being emotional for a young bowler, he probably had never met, shows Holding’s love for the game.

Michael Holding has penned his autobiography, named ‘No Holding Back’ while the government of Jamaica has also issued a postal ticket worth $2 in 1988.
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Anonymous at January 25, 2013 0
The sorry tale of India’s defeats outside home seems not to be ending and its one chapter was when Australia whitewashed them last year. That was the time when India’s Test performance was touching its nadir as it was their second successive whitewash following a humiliating 4-0 defeat in the hands of England.

[caption id="attachment_197" align="alignright" width="223"]This was the last biggest innings by great Ponting. He played a 386-run knock with Clarke (Photo: Getty Images) This was the last biggest innings by great Ponting. He played a 386-run knock with Clarke (Photo: Getty Images)[/caption]

In the Australia-India Test played in Adelaide during the series, the hosts’ present and the then captains—Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting—together achieved a milestone today (January 25). They both scored double centuries in one innings to become the fourth Australian pair to do so, in fact, first in 47 years.

It was Ponting’s sixth double century in Tests and third against the Indians. In the 221-run knock, he faced 404 deliveries and scored 21 fours. On the other hand, Clarke, on his way to captaincy, made 210 runs with the help of 21 fours.

The pair added 386 runs in the partnership for the third wicket, and that was certainly the last solid performance by Ponting as his form took a downward slope in the matches that followed and, at last, he retired from the longest format of the game.

However, the Test was the 16th occasion when two batsmen scored double hundreds in the same innings.

For India, the series was a nightmare. Just have a look at the results of the four Tests: First Test, defeat by 122 runs; second Test, by an innings and 68 runs; third Test, by an innings and 37 runs; and in the fourth and last Test, a humiliating loss by 298 runs. India had also faced a defeat by an innings in the fourth Test had Australia invited them to batting after a follow on.

The first such match that saw two batsmen score double hundreds in an innings was when

In 1934, Australian batting greats Don Bradman and Bill Ponsford blazed the trail and scored double centuries in an innings in the Oval Test. Sir Bradman once again did so in 1946 with Sid Barnes.

For Pakistan, Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad scored double centuries in an innings against India in Hyderabad Test—the same match in which Imran Khan declared Pakistan’s innings when Miandad was just 20 runs short of his debut triple hundred. Fate was never kind to Miandad again in this regard and he ended his career without a 300.

Miandad achieved the milestone again in 1985 with Qasim Umar and then Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq did so in 1999 against Sri Lanka.

Below is a list of the batsmen who scored 200 or plus runs in the same innings:
































































































































































































CountryBatsman 1RunsBatsman 2RunsTotal scorevsVenueDate
آسٹریلیاBill Ponsford266Donald Bradman244701انگلستانThe Oval, LondonAugust, 1934
آسٹریلیاSid Barnes234Donald Bradman234659انگلستانSidney, AustraliaDecember, 1946
ویسٹ انڈیزConrad Hunte260Garry Sobers365790پاکستانKingston, JamaicaFebruary, 1958
آسٹریلیاBill Lawry210Bob Simpson201650ویسٹ انڈیزBridgetown, BarbadosMay, 1965
پاکستانmudassar Nazar231Javed Miandad280*581بھارتHyderabad, PakistanJanuary, 1983
انگلستانGraeme Fowler201mike Gatting207652بھارتChennai, IndiaJanuary, 1985
پاکستانQasim Omar206Javed Miandad203*555سری لنکاFaisalabad, PakistanOctober, 1985
سری لنکاSanath Jayasuriya340Roshan Mahanama225952بھارتColombo, Sri LankaAugust, 1997
پاکستانIjaz Ahmed211Inzamam-ul-Haq200*594سری لنکاDhaka, BangladeshMarch, 1999
سری لنکاmarvan Atapattu249Kumar Sangakkara270713زمبابوےBulawayo, ZimbabweMay, 2004
ویسٹ انڈیزWavell Hinds213Shivnarine Chanderpaul203*543جنوبی افریقہGeorgetown, GuyanaMarch, 2004
سری لنکاKumar Sangakkara287Mahela Jayawardene374756جنوبی افریقہColombo, Sri LankaJuly, 2006
جنوبی افریقہNeil McKenzie226Graeme Smith232583بنگلہ دیشChittagong, BangladeshFebruary, 2008
بھارتGautam Gambhir206VVS Laxman200*613آسٹریلیاDelhi, IndiaOctober, 2008
سری لنکاMahela Jayawardene240Thilan Samaraweera231644پاکستانKarachi, PakistanFebruary, 2009
آسٹریلیاRicky Ponting221Michael Clarke210604بھارتAdelaide, AustraliaJanuary, 2012
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Anonymous at December 29, 2012 0

Read this in Urdu


Off-spinners around the world try their best to master ‘doosra’—a delivery that confuses the batsman, spinning in the opposite direction—invented by Pakistani cricket great Saqlain Mushtaq. He not only blazed a trail in pioneering the delivery, but also coined the name doosra (from Urdu means ‘the second one’) along with the then wicketkeeper Moin Khan.

[caption id="attachment_133" align="alignright" width="221"]Saqlain scored a hat-trick in the World Cup 1999 (Photo: AFP) Saqlain scored a hat-trick in the World Cup 1999 (Photo: AFP)[/caption]

Today is the 36th birthday of Saqqi, as he was nicknamed. Born on December 29, 1976, he had to quit international cricket only at the age of 29.

His unpredictable doosra did not spare anyone, even mystifying great batsmen. He sailed through on the back of the delivery to the peak of his career and clinched many records, including the achievement of getting fastest 100 wickets in One Day Internationals.

He took a total of 496 wickets in his career, including 208 Test wickets in just 49 matches and 288 wickets in 169 ODIs. His one-day bowling average was 21.78 and because of his impressive performance he was named 2000 player of the year by Wisden.

Saqlain also shares a record of scoring hat-trick twice with countryman Wasim Akram. One of his hat-tricks was against Zimbabwe in the World Cup 1999 and he helped Pakistan reach the semi-finals in the tournament. But the record did not last long as Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka scored a third hat-trick of his career last year.

One of the most memorable wickets of his career was perhaps when on January 31, 1999 he sent Sachin Tendulkar packing in Chennai Test and played a decisive role in Pakistan’s 12-run victory against India. Saqqi sent Tendulkar to the pavilion in both innings of the Test. The “Little Master” got out for a duck in the first inning and in the second, he again fell prey to Saqlain when the India were only 17 runs away from win. It was the same Test when Chennai spectators gave a rapturous standing ovation to Pakistani team.

Among the rare occasions when Saqqi showed brilliance with his bat was when on October 1996 he and Wasim Akram played a record 313-run partnership inning after Pakistan’s eight wickets had been fallen. Saqlain shared 79 runs in the knock. The record sustained for 14 years until Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad broke it in the infamous 2010 Lord’s Test.

Saqlain also has a Test century under his belt. In March 2001, he scored an unbeaten 101 runs against New Zealand at Christchurch.

In 2004, Multan Test against India proved to be the last match of his career when he failed to counter a stormy Virender Sehwag. Moreover, the emergence of Shoaib Malik, an off-spinner with better batting skills than Saqlain, and Danish Kaneria added insult to injury, pushing Saqqi’s career to an arguably premature end. He took only one wicket in the Test, giving 204 runs in 43 overs. He was 29 at the stage and one can see how unfortunate it was for a bowler like Saqlain that he was never given another opportunity.

After having remained injured for quite a while, Saqlain moved to England where he played county cricket, representing Surrey and Sussex.

Saqlain is associated with coaching these days and has recently left Bangladesh as a spin-bowling coach.






































MatchesWicketsBest bowling in inningsBest bowling in matchAvgEco. rate5w10w
Test492088/164155/1029.832.64133
ODI1692885/205/2021.784.2960
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Anonymous at December 28, 2012 0

Read this in Urdu


“And with these two runs the score has become 111 and here’s David Shepherd with his right leg raised to show that the score is now ‘Nelson’...”

Have you ever seen this by yourself? A signal that one of the best cricket umpires David Shepherd used to give on all the ‘Nelson’ scores: 111, 222, 333 and so on.

[caption id="attachment_85" align="alignright" width="216"]On ‘Nelson’ scores Shepherd became the centre of crowd’s attention for his unique mannerisms— hops, shuffles, jiggles and whatnot (Photo: Getty Images) On ‘Nelson’ scores Shepherd became the centre of crowd’s attention for his unique mannerisms— hops, shuffles, jiggles and whatnot (Photo: Getty Images)[/caption]

 

Whenever Shepherd was present in a match and Nelson multiple occurred, he became the centre of the crowd’s attention for his unique mannerisms— hops, shuffles, jiggles and whatnot.

Born today (December 27) in 1940 in the south-western county Devon of England, Shepherd umpired in 92 Tests in his 20-year career.

Although he couldn’t represent England on Test level as a player, he did play first-class cricket, representing Gloucestershire country for a long time.

After making century in his debut, he played a total of 282 matches, making 10,627 runs, including 12 centuries and 55 half-centuries, with an average of 24.47.

He started his first-class umpiring career in 1981. On international level, he appeared first time in 1983 World Cup.

A match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the tournament proved to be the starting point of his career. Later on, he umpired in the finals of 1996, 1999 and 2003 World Cups. Shepherd umpired in record six World Cups. In total, he supervised 172 one-day international matches.

The Old Trafford Test of 1985 Ashes was his first Test appearance. Later on, he umpired in 92 Tests till the end of his career and achieved fame among the cricketers and spectators not only because of his accurate decisions, but also his refined sense of humour.

Shepherd is at the fourth number in the list of umpires who supervised the most number of Tests. Only West Indies’ Steve Buckner with 128, South Africa’s Rudi Koertzen with 108 and Australia’s Daryl Harper with 95 matches are ahead of him.

The June 2005 match between Pakistan and West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica was the last Test of his career. On the last day of the match, Shepherd received a bat with signatures from Brian Lara.

The next month of the same year, Shepherd said goodbye to the cricket world by supervising his last ODI between England and Australia at The Oval, England.















































CountryCareer spanTotal matches
Steve Bucknerویسٹ انڈیز1989-2009128
Rudi Koertzenجنوبی افریقہ1992-2010108
Daryl Harperآسٹریلیا1998-201195
David Shepherdانگلستان1985-200592
Darrell Hairآسٹریلیا1992-200878
Aleem Darپاکستان2003-present74

 


 
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Anonymous at December 22, 2012 0
Sarfaraz Nawaz, who introduced ‘reverse swing’ to the world of cricket, was born in Lahore today in 1948. He gave the world the art that had been greeted with suspicion until the goras mastered it and accepted it as an ‘art’.

Sarfraz-Nawaz

In 1979, Nawaz closely missed an opportunity to write a history when he failed to take all the 10 wickets against Australia in Melbourne Test. He took nine wickets off 86 runs in the match, including a spell in which he sent seven batsmen packing at the expense of only one run.

Chasing a 382-run target, Australia had made 305 runs off three wickets, ending every chance for Pakistan to come back in the match. But what followed was surely a nightmare for the Aussies as Nawaz emerged with a messianic zeal to crush the opponents, letting them score only five more runs by taking the remaining seven wickets.

Nawaz took nine wickets in the match and the only batsman who luckily escaped his wrath was then Australian captain Graham Yallop who got run-out.

Pakistan unexpectedly won the match by 71 runs and Nawaz was given player-of-the-match award.

The tall bowler made his debut against England in 1969 in Karachi. In 1984, he played his last match against the same opponents in Gaddafi Stadium in his native city, Lahore.

After his 15-year cricket career, Nawaz rose to fame again for his bold and blunt statements against corruption in the game. That’s why he is regularly contacted by the media for his expert opinion on fixing in cricket, and not on bowling.






































MatchesBallsRunsWicketsBBIBBMAverage10 wickets in Match
Tests551395157981779/8611/12532.751
ODIs4524121463634/274/2723.220

Though there is no dearth of riveting performances in Nawaz’s career, his 1979 show is enough to give the shivers to Australians. Watch and enjoy:


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Anonymous at December 16, 2012 0

Read this in Urdu


With 6-foot-8-inch height and a high-arm action, when Joel Garner bowled yorkers, it seemed like the ball was coming down from the skies akin to lightning, nibbling away at the bat and breaking the wickets.

[caption id="attachment_157" align="alignright" width="200"]Big Bird’s yorkers helped West Indies win 1979 World Cup (Photo: Getty Images) Big Bird’s yorkers helped West Indies win 1979 World Cup (Photo: Getty Images)[/caption]

Being undefeatable for almost 15 years and being a part of the world famous “Fearsome Foresome” bowling attack of the West Indies, Joel Garner was born today in Barbados in 1952. He started his Test and one-day career in 1977 and never looked back.

He was the first one-day bowler whose fear impinged on the minds of batsmen world over. Famously known as “Big Bird”, his yorkers were called “yorkers from hell”.

Those were the bowlers like Garner that West Indies ruled the world of cricket in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The pace attack of four bowlers, Michael Holding, Collin Craft, Andy Roberts and “Big Bird” Joel Garner, was more than a nightmare for all the batting line-ups.

How can the English batsmen forget the lesson given by Big Bird? In the final of the 1979 World Cup, just one spell of Garner crushed their dream of becoming world champions. Chasing a 287-run target, when England were trying to control the steadily increasing run rate, Garner bowled out the famous batsmen Graham Gotch and David Gover in a single over. He wiped out the English tail in the next over to help West Indies win the cup.

England lost eight wickets within 11 runs, thanks to Garner on the one hand and Collin Craft on the other. Big Bird took five wickets for 38, which was certainly the best bowling performance in a World Cup final.

Though Vivian Richards was declared the man of the match, but Joel Garner was rather more important for the West Indian crowd. Enthused by the support of the crowd, he threw his 15-size shoes towards them so that they could keep it as a remembrance.

In his one-day career, Joel Garner got 146 wickets with an outstanding average of 18.84 and economy rate of 3.06, which is still a world record. One-day cricket has seen many great bowlers after him like Waseem Akram, Waqar Yunus, Imran Khan and Muralitharan, but no one could match Joel Garner in this regard. In his 58-match Test career, Garner took 259 wickets with an average of 20.97.













































































NameCountryDurationMatchesBallsRunsWicketsBestAvgEco. rate
Joel Garnerویسٹ انڈیز1977-198798533027521465/3118.843.09
Max Walkerآسٹریلیا1974-1981171006546204/1927.303.25
Mike Hendrickانگلستان1973-1981221248681355/3119.453.27
Bob Willisانگلستان1973-19846435951968804/1124.603.28
Richard Hadleeنیوزی لینڈ1973-1990115618234071585/2521.563.30

In 1980, Wisden awarded Garner as the best player of the year and in 2006 the International Cricket Council (ICC) declared him the number one among the world’s best bowlers.

The King of Cricket Statistics S. Rajesh believes that Joel Garner is the best bowler in cricket history with every aspect. Rajesh proved it with the help of stats that how Big Bird was a greater bowler than Glenn McGrath, Waseem Akram, Imran Khan and Waqar Yunus.
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