It is important to have a strong sense of history to preserve and protect a culture, its heritage and legacy. The past would be unknown without it, the present nothing to be proud of and the future as bleak as the past. Nations who value their history and legacy are torch bearers to the world.

This mysterious and yet beautiful world that we live in since time immemorial has had plenty to offer throughout the generations. Civilisations have vanished and new ones keep emerging as the world marches on. It is indeed astonishing to observe how mankind and things around us developed over the years to bring us where we are today. If those who, over the years, had not cared to preserve things as evolution took place we in this world would have been lost souls.

Archives, museums, galleries have no doubt contributed immensely towards preserving that heritage and its prized possessions to remind us of what we were and what we are. Europeans, including the British, the South Americans and the Antipodeans have done a remarkable job in this direction. And having travelled the world as a cricket writer I am lucky to have had the opportunity to browse around whenever possible.

The Lahore Gymkhana Cricket Club Museum located in Bagh-e-Jinnah is a labour of love

A visit to British Museum and its library is an eye opener. There must be a museum for everything in England. A stroll in the Louvre Gallery in Paris is as much a mind-boggling experience. It would be difficult to tell you about all that I have seen so it is better that I restrict myself to a subject that I deal with on a day-to-day basis — cricket and cricket museums.

From the MCC Museum at Lord’s, the best, no doubt, in the world to the ones in Melbourne and Wellington, I have seen them all along with a number of private collections of cricket memorabilia, which I happened to see in different countries. It is like a treasure trove that enriches my mind. To add to all that, I am pleased to say we also have a cricket museum in Pakistan, the first of its kind in the country, which I recently visited on my trip to Lahore and was rather pleased that I did. The museum is a labour of love by Najum Latif, its curator.

I shall indeed throw some light on it but first a bit about the museum at Lord’s, which has history written all over it. Well-preserved and well-kept it has the original 138-year-old urn of ‘The Ashes’. Whether it is England or Australia who win The Ashes, they are only presented a replica of this urn as a trophy. There are bats and blazers, shoes and caps of the greats of the game such as W.G. Grace, Sir Don Bradman, Sir Jack Hobbs, Sir Garfield Sobers, and the sparrow mounted on the ball which killed it (bowled by Dr Jahangir Khan in a match between MCC and Cambridge University in 1936 at Lord’s). There are many more artifacts, ephemera and paintings belonging to the greats of the game like Hanif Mohammad, Sunil Gavaskar, Zaheer Abbas and Sachin Tendulkar, to name a few. Those who have, over the years, scored a hundred at Lord’s and taken a haul of five wickets and more in an innings at the famous venue have also been made immortal here.

At MCG in Melbourne you have on display a cricket bat with which the majestic Majid Khan hit a hundred before lunch on the opening day of a Test against New Zealand in Karachi in 1976, while opening the batting for Pakistan. Majid had presented the bat to the MCG, which now adorns their museum in a glass casket.

Sydney Cricket Ground has as much on offer for any visitor that reminds me of Wellington in New Zealand where at Basin Reserve there is a museum next to the grandstand.

In 1990, during a one-off Test for which I was one of the commentators on TVNZ, and having seen the fast bowling greats Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller who were there as guests, I organised, with the help of the Wellington Cricket Association, to take them to the museum at tea time, which indeed they loved and recorded their appreciation for. At the end of their round of the gallery, I asked Miller if I can have a photo with them. And Miller said, “Mate, we would like to have a picture with you because you are the commentator. You are more famous.” What modest and down to earth people!

Now, coming back to the cricket museum here, which is located at the historic Bagh-e-Jinnah heritage pavilion of the Lahore Gymkhana cricket ground. It was established through the efforts of Zia Haider Rizvi, sports in charge of the Gymkhana, who also appointed Najum Latif as its curator in 2003.

The pavilion designed by one G. Stone and built by Bhai Ram Singh in 1880 still stands in its full glory as a reminder to Lahore’s glorious history and its cricket legacy.

The museum was formally opened by the present Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif in 2009. But it had been stacking cricket collections consisting of famous past and present memorabilia from much before thanks to its curator, who remains its spirit and soul.

Before 1880, when the ground was first established, the venue was the landing site for hot air balloons. Later, it was converted into a cricket ground; the turf was laid in 1882 with imported clay from Worcestershire. Its pitches were dug up in 2007 when a ceramic object, dating back to 1882, was also found from there, which now sits in the museum.

A signed group photo of the 1936 Indian and Australian team who played at the venue hangs on the teak walls of the dining hall. The captain of India was Wazir Ali. Recently, according to Najum Latif, Megan, the granddaughter of the great Australian batsman Bill Ponsford, of Don Bradman’s time, has also visited the museum for her research of that Australian tour to India.

Lahore Gymkhana became the first club to be affiliated with the MCC in 2005 after which the then MCC President Robin Marlar visited the place with his wife promising support to the club. Marlar played as an off-spinner for Sussex against Pakistan’s touring team to England in 1954. Later, he became a prolific writer on the game.

On display in the museum is a picture of the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah handing over a trophy to Nazar Mohammad at the Islamia College Lahore function in 1945. The only picture I suppose I have seen of the founder of Pakistan with a cricketer.

Also on display is Test cap and a blazer of Dr Jahangir Khan, who played cricket for India. His son Majid Khan had presented his father’s memorabilia to Najum.

A piece of turf from Lord’s is also preserved here. It was presented to the son of Mohammad Nisar, the great Indian fast bowler who on his Test debut for India in the country’s inaugural Test in 1932 took five wickets in an innings.

A signed cricket ball by Sir Don Bradman is prominent on the shelves and so is a trouser of Imran Khan from the 1992 World Cup which Pakistan won at the MCG.

A Cambridge University blazer and cap belonging to Majid Khan and a signed bat and cap belonging to India’s Virender Sehwag, who made a triple century at Multan against Pakistan is also there. Also on display are limited edition prints signed by Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev.

A 100-year-old slip fielding practice cradle is placed on the floor in pristine condition and to add to that are MCC neckties of Abdul Hafeez Kardar and Fazal Mahmood and Pakistan Eaglets blazers of some of players.

A camera lens used by the famous photographer F.E. Choudhry, who took the first action pictures from the Lahore Gymkhana pavilion during the Pakistan v MCC match in 1951 is also one of the museum’s prized possessions.

The curator’s passion is endless as he searches and collects memorabilia from those who played for this country. In one precious picture taken at the Gymkhana where the Indian captain Vinoo Mankad is leading his side in a Test against Pakistan, Najum himself can be seen as a schoolboy walking alongside the Indian captain. For him it is a lifetime of passion with endless resources if only he is able to get his hands on it. He just wants to keep their legacy going.

Twitter: @qamaruk

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, May 8th, 2016