Though England and Australia regard each other as the ‘old enemy’ there has been this feeling in Pakistan that existed at least till the early 1980s where England was seen by us as ‘the enemy’. There have also been prolonged periods of no cricket (eg. 1962 to 1977) with our traditional rival India to back this. Therefore for us it was always England, as our old colonial ruler, from whom we had to fight for independence.

Perhaps it was also because we were aware that we had not beaten them since our very first series against them in England in 1954, and indeed Pakistan did not win a Test against them after that Oval win until we beat them at Lord’s in 1982. And to think that Pakistan had played four home Test series by then, in which England had collectively won a solitary Test; the other 11 were drawn (including one abandoned).

In fact Pakistan’s first Test win at home against England came in the 1983-84 series but once Pakistan broke that seal England were not to win again here till 2000 and then never again, even when Pakistan’s home turf shifted to UAE.

Let’s look back at the Test tours England have undertaken to play Pakistan in Pakistan and the UAE

Now they come forth once more in a bid to add to their two Test wins and two series wins against Pakistan away from home. Will they or won’t they will be known by the first week November. But for now let’s look back at the Test tours England have undertaken to play Pakistan in Pakistan and once in UAE, and the highlights of each tour.

1961-62

This was the first time England were playing a Test match and series in Pakistan. It was a strange itinerary. As England were also to play India and visit Sri Lanka (then Ceylon and not a Test playing country for another 20 years) they played the first Test in Pakistan at Lahore and returned some nine weeks later to continue the series.

Yet they won the first Test in what was to them alien conditions. Imtiaz Ahmed was captaining Pakistan and at 315-3 must have been a happy man; Pakistan eventually collapsed to 387, Javed Burki finishing with 138. Though England conceded a lead of seven they bowled out Pakistan for 200 and won by five wickets with some half hour left.

Hopping over from Calcutta to then play the second Test at Dhaka, England found Burki scoring a hundred again and Hanif Mohammad centuries in both innings, the second of which put the match out of England’s reach after Pakistan stumbled from 122-0 to 159-6. Hanif led the fightback again at Karachi after Pakistan started their second innings with a 254-run deficit, but after they lost their fifth wicket just two runs ahead, true credit went to Mushtaq Mohammad and Nasim-ul-Ghani who put the game out of England’s reach with an 81-run stand.

1968-69

This was a politically tumultuous time in Pakistan with demonstrations against military rule and it resulted in the third Test at Karachi being abandoned on the third morning as England bore their way to 502-7, leaving Alan Knott stranded on 96 as he ran for his life following a crowd invasion.

The earlier two Tests were equally disturbing with crowd trouble at Lahore and so much at Dacca that police and military had to be withdrawn from the ground and students claimed control.

The cricket was therefore marginal though Pakistan, who had conceded a lead of 97 had a peek in beating England in the first Test when they collapsed to 68-5 but were rescued by Fletcher. Pakistan then escaped themselves from 71-4 thanks to Majid Khan’s 68. The third Test was also drawn though it has to be kept in mind the first two Tests were strangely limited to four days.

1972-73

Another boring series played too defensively on flat tracks. Majid Khan had suddenly been made captain while the Pakistan team was transiting in Singapore after returning from the tour of Australia and New Zealand and his counterpart was Tony Lewis, his captain at Glamorgan county in England.

After a lackluster draw at Lahore the series briefly came to life twice, once at Hyderabad when England were still five runs short of overtaking Pakistan’s 82-run lead on the last day with half their wickets gone but were saved by Tony Grieg and Knott; the match will be remembered most by Intikhab Alam who scored his first Test century. And secondly at Karachi where Pakistan collapsed in their second innings from a good start losing five wickets in the space of three runs on the last day to be 108-7 but were resuscitated by Bari (41) and Sarfraz who remained unbeaten on 33. That Test will be remembered for three batsmen — Dennis Amiss, Majid and Mushtaq — all falling for 99.

1977-78

A series that was played without top players from both sides, as they were engaged with the breakaway Packer series, was played so defensively by Pakistan that in the first Test Mudassar Nazar took 557 minutes to score what still ranks as the slowest Test century. As such, though Pakistan gained a lead of 119 there was no time for a third innings!

Likewise in the third Test at Karachi where the match finished with England playing the third innings of the Test with five wickets left; less than 800 runs were scored in the game. There was just enough interest in the second as Pakistan dismissed England for 191 after posting 275. But England finished on 186-1 after being set almost 350.

1983-84

Zaheer Abbas finally realised his dream of captaining Pakistan as Imran was injured but once the first Test at Karachi was won by Pakistan on a spinning track the pitches went bland again to enable a series win.

But that was some finish at Karachi. After bowling out England for 182 and 159 and scoring 277 in between Pakistan were faced with a comfortable target of 64 only to find themselves on 40-6 and were seen home finally by Anil Dalpat. Other than this it was a batsman’s rubber with David Gower powering to two hundreds in the next two Tests and for Pakistan Salim Malik emerging as a solid middle order batsman with a hundred and solid scores throughout.

Pakistan’s first Test win at home against England came in the 1983-84 series but once Pakistan broke that seal England were not to win again here till 2000 and then never again, even when Pakistan’s home turf shifted to UAE.

On the final day of the series there was some excitement as, set a target of 243, Pakistan found themselves on 173-0 at one stage. But trying to push the score they lost wickets and drew the curtains on a chase when within sight; Mohsin Khan finishing with 104 and Pakistan 217-6.

1987-88

Once Pakistan had won the first Test by an innings after Qadir took 9-56 (and 30 in the series), the cricket was overshadowed by the incident in the second Test when England captain Mike Gatting had a heated finger waving exchange on the field with umpire Shakoor Rana over the late movement of a fielder. The Pakistani umpire demanded an apology, was refused and an entire day’s play was lost when England was actually in a stronger position. Gatting eventually was asked by his board to write an apology but the match was drawn after resumption. So was the third but such was the discontent among the England players and management that they did not tour Pakistan for another 13 years.

2000-01

Not much happened of extraordinary note in the first two Tests but the last day of the series at Karachi was astonishing. Set 175 to win after Pakistan collapsed to 158 all out on the last day, England continued chasing even when the sun had set! And it was the month of Ramzan! The Pakistani fielders protested that they couldn’t see the ball but the umpires allowed what was a farcical finish. England won by six wickets and Pakistan not just lost the Test series but Moin Khan lost his captaincy as well.

2005-06

The series could not have started on a more exciting note. The first Test saw Pakistan batting a second time after conceding a lead of 144 and England thereafter needing 198 to win after a Salman Butt hundred. At 64-1 they were cruising but that soon became 67-4 as Danish Kaneria struck and then Shoaib Akhtar helped reduce England to 117-7. England eventually fell 23 short.

After a drawn second Test in which Inzamam got hundreds in both innings, England seemed to be on course for saving the third Test after they were 208-3 on the final day after Pakistan had compiled 636 on the back of a Mohammad Yousuf double hundred, but lost eight wickets for 43 runs in 12 overs to lose by an innings.

2011-12

This was the first time England were playing Pakistan in a Test series in the UAE and a whitewash here would have been furthest from their minds. Yet that is what the Pakistani spinners Saeed Ajmal and Rehman conjured up for Pakistan. The visitors never recovered after Ajmal took 7-55 on the opening day of the series and Pakistan won comfortably. But set 145 to win in the second Test they were on course to break even until Rehman with 6-25 broke their back to bowl them out for 72.

England struck back to bowl Pakistan out for 99 in the third Test but were bowled out for 141 themselves and allowing Pakistan to post 365, lost by 72 runs. It was the first time they had lost all three Tests of a series to Pakistan.

As history shows Pakistan have come a long way since 1961.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, October 18th, 2015

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