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January 22, 2002
EXCERPTS: Cricket mania
Abid Ali Kazi chronicles the cricket matches played in Pakistan from 1963 to 1970
THE 1963-64 season was the second in succession with no Test cricket played in Pakistan. The season started with a visit by a Commonwealth team playing six first-class matches, three of them unofficial ‘Tests’. Unlike the previous couple of seasons, that year’s Quaid-i-Azam Trophy was reverted back to the knockout system on the insistence of all the major associations. Dera Ismail Khan withdrew from the Trophy at the last moment giving Rawalpindi a walkover. The remaining competition was played between fifteen teams. An experimental law was introduced which limited the onside fielders to five. The ‘front foot’ regulation was also adopted this year on the English season’s model. Ayub Trophy was not played this season.
Australia visited Pakistan for a single Test match in 1964-65. Before the Test match a trial fixture was played between Pakistan XI and the Pakistan Railways for the selection of the Test squad. The Ayub Trophy was resumed after a break of one season. In the competition, 25 teams contested. PWD, Dera Ismail Khan and Rajshahi made their first appearance on the domestic first-class scene. Instead of a combined team for the universities and the education boards, each were granted playing rights, which undermined the competition. In the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, out of the original 26 teams, eight withdrew because of various reasons and the trophy was contested by 18 teams. Due to the arrival of the New Zealanders, the last three matches of the trophy were postponed to the next season.
The 1965-66 season started as late as February due to hostilities between India and Pakistan in September 1965. After an annual fixture between Punjab University and the Punjab Governor’s XI, the last season’s Quaid-i-Azam Trophy was completed in mid April. The last four matches of this season’s Ayub Trophy had to be postponed till the next season as the May heat was unsuitable for playing cricket.
The remaining matches of the 1965-66 Ayub Trophy were played at the start of the 1966-67 season but the final was postponed for the next season. This year’s Quaid-i-Azam Trophy was organized on a new format. Some of the associations were grouped together to form combined elevens. The intention was to improve the standard of play and to reduce the fixtures. But after the completion of three matches, the 1966-67 Quaid-i-Azam Trophy too was postponed for the next season due to the arrival of the Ceylonese (now Sri Lankans) followed by the MCC under-25 teams.
At the start of the 1967-68 season, two postponed competitions were completed. First the final of the 1965-66 Ayub Trophy was played and after that the remaining matches of the 1966-67 Quaid-i-Azam Trophy were completed. This season’s Ayub Trophy was contested by 21 teams and was completed in the same season. No Quaid-i-Azam Trophy was organized this year. An International Eleven and the Commonwealth team visited in the latter part of the season playing one and eight first-class games respectively.
The 1968-69 Quaid-i-Azam Trophy had to be postponed for a month as it was discovered that four teams, namely PIA, PWD, Punjab University and Karachi University were ineligible to play because of a strict interpretation of the tournament’s rules. In this period PIA played a friendly match with the PWD and staged a quadrangular tournament involving themselves, the PWD, the NTR and Karachi to celebrate the “decade of reforms and development”. The Quaid-i-Azam Trophy finally commenced without the four mentioned teams and was contested amongst twelve teams. The MCC tour was marred by bad weather and rioting. All the six matches including the three Tests were drawn.
The 1969-70 season was by far the longest in the history of Pakistan’s domestic first-class cricket. Fifty-eight first-class matches were played this season including the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, Ayub Trophy and the New Zealand tour fixtures. This season’s Quaid-i-Azam Trophy was contested by 20 teams divided into five groups. In all 27 teams entered for the Ayub Trophy but seven withdrew before the start of the competition.
Four teams from East Pakistan refused to take part as the BCCP did not change the title of the tournament as per their request. Kalat and the two Hyderabad teams could not take part as they were banned by the BCCP for breaking the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy rules by playing a twelve per side match earlier in the season. As a Pakistan Under-25 team was to tour England in the summer of 1970 (which was subsequently cancelled over the South African crisis), all the teams competing in the Ayub Trophy were instructed to include at least six players in their sides under the age of 25.
Excerpts from
First-class cricket in Pakistan, 1963-64 to 1969-70, Volume IV
Researched, compiled and edited by Abid Ali Kazi
Published by author on behalf of Pakistan Association of Cricket Statisticians and Scorers, 64/II, 20th Street, Khayaban-i-Badban, Phase V, DHA, Karachi-75500
Email: abidalikazi@hotmail.com
500pp
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