All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

234 Shahid Mahmood number of other members of the party the tour wasn’t a great success for him: in 13 first-class matches he scored 369 runs at an average of 16.04, and took eleven wickets at 26.72. Playing in fewer than half of the tourists’ matches he suffered from lack of opportunity. Still, he did at least get his one and only cap, albeit that he wasn’t in very good form when he stepped onto the field at Trent Bridge at the end of July for the Fourth Test with the series already lost. Shahid performed modestly in a rain-affected draw. Opening in the first innings his 16 was 16 more than his illustrious partner Hanif Mohammad managed, and dropping down the order second time around he made nine before becoming the only wicket taken in the match by England captain Ted Dexter. He was given little chance with the ball, and although England piled up 428 for five declared he bowled just six wicketless overs (in two spells of five and one!). The star performer for Pakistan, among a number of modest performers, was Hanif’s 18-year-old brother Mushtaq (who had been playing Test cricket since he was 15) who made 55 and 100 not out. After his one Test Shahid was given little further opportunity to impress - just one county match, and festival matches at Hastings and Scarborough. Back home he had his moments over the next few seasons, but not enough of them to force himself into the selectors’ thinking. And then came a remarkable swansong. The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan’s premier domestic first-class competition, was instituted in 1953/54. Quaid-e-Azam means ‘The Great Leader’, the title given to Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of the state of Pakistan. In 1969/70 twenty teams took part. Because of their strength, Hyderabad and Karachi (both with sides named Blues and Whites), and Lahore (A and B) were allowed to enter two teams. The tournament started with the teams playing in groups in order to decide who would play in the semi-finals. So far, Karachi teams had dominated the Trophy winning it ten times. Khairpur first entered the competition in 1958/59, but had never reached the semis. Mushtaq Mohammad had made a triple-century at the National Stadium two years previously, and the ground would go on to see four more triples (including Aftab Baloch’s 428), but the match in September 1969 wasn’t one for connoisseurs of big scores. None of the Khairpur side ever played Test cricket. Their best known player, eventually, was probably Shakoor Rana. Less successful than his two Test match-playing brothers, in an 11-match career he made just 226 runs and took 12 wickets. However, as an umpire 18 years later he was involved in the infamous spat with England captain Mike Gatting that led to a Test match being suspended while they tried, with limited success, to sort out their differences. So far in their group Karachi had drawn one match and only won the other as a result of a walkover, whilst Khairpur had won one and lost one. However, as the stronger side, Karachi would have been expected to win. Their attack though was limited. Left-arm spinner Abdur Raqib would go on to take 643 first-class wickets, but his career was only just beginning and, whilst Mufassir-ul-Haq and Shahid would share 194 wickets, the four other bowlers used by skipper Wallis Mathias would eventually take just