FIrst-Class Matches Pakistan 1980/81 to 1983/84

5 Preface This is the sixth volume in the ACS’s ‘Hard to Get’ series, which aims to provide scorecards of matches that have previously appeared in print, if at all, only in ephemeral sources such as newspapers. Following on from the fourth volume in the series, which covered five Pakistan seasons from 1975/76 to 1979/80, it carries the record of Pakistan cricket forward to cover the four seasons 1980/81 to 1983/84. There were 285 matches in Pakistan during these seasons, and in order to give as full a picture as possible, scorecards of all of them are printed here, including the ones that are readily available in other sources. Test matches come into this category, of course, but so do more domestic matches than usual because these seasons coincide with a regrettably short-lived policy on the part of Wisden to provide fuller coverage of domestic matches overseas. Even so, however, the coverage in Wisden remained only partial; most Pakistan scores were supplied only in potted form. The scores are presented as fully as possible but it will be seen that many cards lack a breakdown of extras, and details such as close of play scores and the names of the umpires are unfortunately often missing. Over the previous few seasons the Pakistan authorities had steadily reduced the number of domestic tournaments with first-class status. In 1974/75 and 1975/76 there were as many as six but by 1979/80 this number had been whittled down to two: the Invitation Tournament and the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. For 1980/81, the Invitation Tournament gave way to the PACO Cup (a revived version of the old Pentangular Tournament) and this arrangement continued for the following two seasons. The Patron’s Trophy continued to be played but was no longer treated as first-class (although this was the subject of considerable doubt, especially in 1980/81). In 1983/84, however, the Patron’s Trophy regained its first-class status and the PACO Cup was dropped from the programme. The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, meanwhile, took place throughout. All first-class tournaments during these seasons were conducted on a league format. This may appear to be a trite observation, since this is now (2019) the settled format for domestic first-class competitions, but for Pakistan in the early 1980s it was something of a departure because until the late 1970s most competitions had been conducted on the knock-out format inherited from India at the time of Partition. Competition rules closely followed the English County Championship of the time, with the first innings limited to 85 overs per side and with bonus points for batting and bowling. Six-ball overs were used in Pakistan throughout the period covered in this volume (and indeed this has remained the case to the present day). John Bryant