Pakistani cricket team in England in 1954
Encyclopedia
The Pakistani cricket team
toured England in the 1954 season
. The team played four Test matches
against England
, winning one, losing one and drawing two. These were the first Test matches played between the two sides. In winning the fourth and final Test, Pakistan became the first side to win a Test on its inaugural tour of England.
The team played 26 other first-class
matches and two minor games: they won eight of the first-class matches and one of the other games, and lost two first-class matches. In a wet summer, 19 matches, including two Tests and one of the minor games, were drawn.
won the toss and elected to bowl first. Pakistan scored slowly that afternoon, reaching fifty for three wickets; with Hanif Mohammad
"scarcely ever attempting a scoring stroke" The following day, Pakistan's remaining seven wickets were taken in eighty minutes, with Brian Statham
taking four wickets for ten runs in his morning spell. England took risks in attempting to score quick runs, hoping to declare
and force an innings victory. However, England lost wickets regularly which interrupted the flow of their attack, and when Hutton declared England were 117 for 9. Pakistan managed to bat for the remainder of the match, securing the draw.
Second Test: Trent Bridge
England (558/6 declared) beat Pakistan (157 and 272) by an innings and 129 runs. Len Hutton was unfit, so David Sheppard
captained the side in his absence. His opposite number Abdul Kardar
won the toss and decided to bat first. After around an hour, Sheppard called upon Bob Appleyard
to bowl for the first time in Test cricket. Within 26 balls, Appleyard reduced Pakistan from 37 for one to 55 for five, bowling a mixture of off cutter
s, leg cutter
s and inswinger
s. Despite a recovery from the tail, Pakistan were all out for 157. By the end of the first day, England had moved to 121/2, with Sheppard and May the dismissed batsmen. On the second morning, Pakistan bowler Fazal Mahmood
injured his leg and had to bowl with a shortened run. Simpson was eventually dismissed for 101, while his batting partner Denis Compton
was dropped on 20; he went on to score 278. Tom Graveney
also scored a half-century, and England declared their innings on 558/6. Pakistan needed 401 to avoid an innings defeat, with two days play remaining. However, the rain fell again, reducing the playing time on the fourth day drastically. Nonetheless, Pakistan were all out for 272 just before lunch on day five.
who bowled 37 overs that day. The second day fell entirely to rain, and on the third morning England batted for an hour before declaring. Pakistan started their reply well, but the rain-affected pitch favoured the bowlers. Pakistan lost wickets rapidly, with Johnny Wardle
taking four for 19 and Jim McConnon
, on his debut, three for 19 and four catches. The touring side were forced to follow on after being dismissed for 90. They limped to 25 for 4 in their second innings before the end of the third day, before the weather came to their rescue, washing out the final two days.
Fourth Test: The Oval
Pakistan (133 and 164) beat England (130 and 143) by 24 runs. Hutton returned, and England gave debuts to Peter Loader
and Frank Tyson
, who had been selected for the winter tour to Australia
. Rain delayed the start and Pakistan were soon in trouble, falling to 51 for seven before Kardar and the tail effected a small recovery. Tyson and Loader took seven wickets between them. Torrential rain washed out the second day, and when England batted on the Saturday the pitch helped the Pakistani medium-fast bowlers, Fazal Mahmood
and Mahmood Hussain, who took six and four wickets respectively. Every batsman was caught. For a second time, Pakistan were rescued by the tail, which doubled the score from 82 for eight to 164, with Wazir Mohammad making an unbeaten 43. Johnny Wardle
took seven for 56 but lacked support. When Reg Simpson
, Peter May
and Denis Compton
took England to 109 for two, an England victory looked a formality, but lower-order timidity against Fazal, who took a further six wickets to finish with 12 for 99 in the match, brought a famous victory after only 55 minutes on the fifth day.
Pakistani cricket team
The Pakistan cricket team is the national cricket team of Pakistan. Pakistan, represented by the Pakistan Cricket Board , is a full member of the International Cricket Council, and thus participates in , and cricket matches....
toured England in the 1954 season
1954 English cricket season
Pakistan toured England for the first time in the 1954 English cricket season and drew the series of four Test matches.-Honours:*County Championship - Surrey*Minor Counties Championship - Surrey II...
. The team played four Test matches
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
against England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
, winning one, losing one and drawing two. These were the first Test matches played between the two sides. In winning the fourth and final Test, Pakistan became the first side to win a Test on its inaugural tour of England.
The team played 26 other first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
matches and two minor games: they won eight of the first-class matches and one of the other games, and lost two first-class matches. In a wet summer, 19 matches, including two Tests and one of the minor games, were drawn.
First Test: Lord's, 10-15 June 1954
Pakistan (87 and 121/3) drew with England (117/9 declared). Play throughout the first Test match was limited to only eight hours, after heavy rain had saturated the outfield. It was the first time that the first three days of a match had been washed out at Lord's. Play began at 3:45pm on the fourth afternoon, and England captain Len HuttonLen Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
won the toss and elected to bowl first. Pakistan scored slowly that afternoon, reaching fifty for three wickets; with Hanif Mohammad
Hanif Mohammad
Hanif Mohammad is a former Pakistan cricketer. He played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between 1952/53 and 1969/70 and averaged 43.98, with twelve hundreds....
"scarcely ever attempting a scoring stroke" The following day, Pakistan's remaining seven wickets were taken in eighty minutes, with Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
taking four wickets for ten runs in his morning spell. England took risks in attempting to score quick runs, hoping to declare
Declaration and forfeiture
In the sport of cricket a declaration occurs when a captain declares his team's innings closed and a forfeiture is when a captain chooses to forfeit an innings. Declaration and forfeiture are covered in Law 14 of the Laws of cricket...
and force an innings victory. However, England lost wickets regularly which interrupted the flow of their attack, and when Hutton declared England were 117 for 9. Pakistan managed to bat for the remainder of the match, securing the draw.
Second Test: Trent BridgeTrent BridgeTrent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
, 1-5 July 1954
England (558/6 declared) beat Pakistan (157 and 272) by an innings and 129 runs. Len Hutton was unfit, so David SheppardDavid Sheppard
David Stuart Sheppard, Baron Sheppard of Liverpool was the high-profile Bishop of Liverpool in the Church of England who played cricket for Sussex and England in his youth...
captained the side in his absence. His opposite number Abdul Kardar
Abdul Kardar
Abdul Hafeez Kardar or Abdul Kardar was an international cricketer, who is one of the only three players to have played Test cricket for both India and Pakistan; the other two being Amir Elahi and Gul Mohammad...
won the toss and decided to bat first. After around an hour, Sheppard called upon Bob Appleyard
Bob Appleyard
Bob Appleyard is a former Yorkshire and England cricketer.He was one of the best English bowlers of the 1950s, a decade which saw England develop its strongest bowling attack of the twentieth century...
to bowl for the first time in Test cricket. Within 26 balls, Appleyard reduced Pakistan from 37 for one to 55 for five, bowling a mixture of off cutter
Off cutter
An off cutter is a type of delivery in the game of cricket. It is bowled by fast bowlers.A bowler releases a normal fast delivery with the wrist locked in position and the first two fingers positioned on top of the cricket ball, giving it spin about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the length of...
s, leg cutter
Leg cutter
A leg cutter is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It is bowled by fast bowlers.A bowler releases a normal fast delivery with the wrist locked in position and the first two fingers positioned on top of the cricket ball, giving it spin about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the length of...
s and inswinger
Inswinger
An inswinger is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It is bowled by swing bowlers.-Grip:An inswinger is bowled by holding the cricket ball with the seam vertical and the first two fingers slightly across the seam so that it is angled a little to the leg side...
s. Despite a recovery from the tail, Pakistan were all out for 157. By the end of the first day, England had moved to 121/2, with Sheppard and May the dismissed batsmen. On the second morning, Pakistan bowler Fazal Mahmood
Fazal Mahmood
Fazal Mahmood was a Pakistani cricketer, regarded as the finest pace bowler of his country's early years. He played in 34 Test matches and took 139 wickets at a bowling average of 24.70...
injured his leg and had to bowl with a shortened run. Simpson was eventually dismissed for 101, while his batting partner Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
was dropped on 20; he went on to score 278. Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas William Graveney in Riding Mill, Northumberland, is a former English cricketer and was the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club for 2004/5. He went to Bristol Grammar School...
also scored a half-century, and England declared their innings on 558/6. Pakistan needed 401 to avoid an innings defeat, with two days play remaining. However, the rain fell again, reducing the playing time on the fourth day drastically. Nonetheless, Pakistan were all out for 272 just before lunch on day five.
Third Test: Old Trafford, 22-27 July 1954
England (359/8 declared) drew with Pakistan (90 and 25/4). Sheppard, again deputising for Hutton, won the toss and elected to bat first. In yet another rain-affected match, England reached 293/6 by the close of the first day, with Compton making 93 and Graveney 65. Pakistan's bowling relied heavily on ShujauddinShujauddin
Shujauddin Butt is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in 19 Tests from 1954 to 1962....
who bowled 37 overs that day. The second day fell entirely to rain, and on the third morning England batted for an hour before declaring. Pakistan started their reply well, but the rain-affected pitch favoured the bowlers. Pakistan lost wickets rapidly, with Johnny Wardle
Johnny Wardle
Johnny Wardle was an English spin bowler of post-war cricket. His Test bowling average of 20.39, is the lowest in Test cricket by any recognised spin bowler, since World War I....
taking four for 19 and Jim McConnon
Jim McConnon
Jim McConnon was an English cricketer, who played in two Tests in 1954 as an off-spin bowler. He played for Glamorgan from 1950 to 1961, albeit missing the 1956 season when he decided to play in the Lancashire League...
, on his debut, three for 19 and four catches. The touring side were forced to follow on after being dismissed for 90. They limped to 25 for 4 in their second innings before the end of the third day, before the weather came to their rescue, washing out the final two days.
Fourth Test: The OvalThe OvalThe Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
, 12-17 August 1954
Pakistan (133 and 164) beat England (130 and 143) by 24 runs. Hutton returned, and England gave debuts to Peter LoaderPeter Loader
Peter James Loader was an English cricketer and umpire, who played thirteen Test matches for England. He played for Surrey and Beddington Cricket Club. A whippet-thin fast bowler with a wide range of pace and a nasty bouncer, he took the first post-war Test hat-trick as part of his 6 for 36...
and Frank Tyson
Frank Tyson
Frank Holmes Tyson is an England cricketer of the 1950s who became a journalist and cricket commentator after he emigrated to Australia in 1960. Nicknamed "Typhoon Tyson" by the press he was regarded by many commentators as one of the fastest bowlers ever seen in cricket and took 76 wickets in...
, who had been selected for the winter tour to Australia
English cricket team in Australia in 1954-55
Len Hutton captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1954–55, playing as England in the 1954-55 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was the first time that an England team had toured Australia under a professional captain since the 1880s...
. Rain delayed the start and Pakistan were soon in trouble, falling to 51 for seven before Kardar and the tail effected a small recovery. Tyson and Loader took seven wickets between them. Torrential rain washed out the second day, and when England batted on the Saturday the pitch helped the Pakistani medium-fast bowlers, Fazal Mahmood
Fazal Mahmood
Fazal Mahmood was a Pakistani cricketer, regarded as the finest pace bowler of his country's early years. He played in 34 Test matches and took 139 wickets at a bowling average of 24.70...
and Mahmood Hussain, who took six and four wickets respectively. Every batsman was caught. For a second time, Pakistan were rescued by the tail, which doubled the score from 82 for eight to 164, with Wazir Mohammad making an unbeaten 43. Johnny Wardle
Johnny Wardle
Johnny Wardle was an English spin bowler of post-war cricket. His Test bowling average of 20.39, is the lowest in Test cricket by any recognised spin bowler, since World War I....
took seven for 56 but lacked support. When Reg Simpson
Reg Simpson
Reginald Thomas Simpson is an English former cricketer, who played in twentry seven Tests from 1948 to 1955.-Life and career:...
, Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
and Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
took England to 109 for two, an England victory looked a formality, but lower-order timidity against Fazal, who took a further six wickets to finish with 12 for 99 in the match, brought a famous victory after only 55 minutes on the fifth day.
External sources
Further reading
- Bill FrindallBill FrindallWilliam Howard Frindall, MBE was an English cricket scorer and statistician. He was familiar to cricket followers from his appearances on the BBC Radio 4 programme Test Match Special, nicknamed the Bearded Wonder by Brian Johnston for his ability to research the most obscure cricketing facts in...
, The Wisden Book of Test Cricket 1877-1978, Wisden, 1979