All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

235 Shahid Mahmood 25 between them. Having said that, Khairpur’s batting was even weaker. Only one batsman, Mohammad Akram, had a first-class century to his name. He would later add one more, and Zafar Mahmood would also make one, but none of the others would ever reach three figures. Only two batsmen even reached double figures in Khairpur’s first innings, one of whom was the aforementioned Shakoor Rana with 24. Shahid bowled nine overs, picking up a couple of tailenders at a cost of 19 runs. He then opened the batting and made 22 before he was stumped off Khairpur’s captain Abdul Aziz bowling off breaks (which were of course leg breaks to left-handed Shahid). Batting steadily Karachi built up a sizeable first-innings lead by the time the innings closed in the middle of the second day. Khairpur did a little better the second time around, but their innings, and the match, was still over before the end of the day, the captains having agreed to play an extra half-hour. Left-arm opening bowler Mufassir-ul-Haq had played one Test five years before, but he was soon off, Shahid coming on first change and bowling throughout the rest of the innings. Shakoor Rana again stayed for a while before Shahid bowled him, but the only batsman who got past 30 was slow left-armer Tahir Ali who made 38 not out, going in at 93 for seven and helping guide his side to a slightly more respectable total. In putting on 29 with Ghulam Sabir for the last wicket, the highest stand of the innings, he at least ensured that Mahmood had to work hard for his all-ten. Having taken four for 79 in Karachi’s innings Tahir Ali had had a good match in a hopeless cause. Sabir was caught by debutant Hasan Pervez who had thus caught the first batsman dismissed in the match and the last. Shahid hit the stumps four times, whilst three of the six catches taken off his bowling were pouched by Aftab Alam, the older brother of Pakistan’s wrist-spinning allrounder Intikhab. In a 46-match career Alam hit seven centuries, one of which was a career-best 154 against Khairpur the previous season. Two matches, and two months, later and Shahid’s career was over. In the first, the Quaid-e-Azam semi-final, Karachi Whites came up against the rather powerful Pakistan International Airways (PIA) side, nine of whom had played for Pakistan, whilst the other two, Younis Ahmed and Zaheer Abbas, would soon do so. The match was drawn, but PIA went through to the Final (which they won) by virtue of their first innings lead. Shahid had a good match. He made 15 not out in Karachi’s first innings, bowled 54 overs while PIA scored 531 for five declared, dismissing Hanif Mohammad and Younis at a cost of 75 runs, and then opening the batting made 110 not out. The match eventually petered out to a draw, enabling Hanif to bowl 22 overs of occasional off breaks, the longest spell of his career. One more wicket in his final match took Shahid’s final career total to 89 wickets in 66 matches, from 990 overs. Of all bowlers who have taken an all-ten only Albert Moss (26 in four matches) has taken fewer wickets. Shahid subsequently settled in New Jersey where he ran a successful advertising business, served the Pakistani community, and advised Presidents Reagan and Bush Senior on matters relating to the USA’s Islamic community.