Oldest One Day Internationals Players

Pakistan’s cricket captain Misbah-ul-Haq Khan Niazi became the oldest player to appear in a One Day International cricket match for Pakistan. His age was 39 years 155 days in the first ODI against South Africa at Sharjah on 30 October 2013.  

Misbah-ul-Haq broke Younis Ahmed’s record who was four days younger when played his last ODI for Pakistan. Left-hand batsman Younis Ahmed was 39 years 151 days old when he opened batting for Pakistan against India on 20 March 1987 at Hyderabad Deccan’s Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium. 

Misbah-ul-Haq also broke Imran Khan’s record of oldest ODI captain of Pakistan. Imran Khan was 39 years 121 days old on the victorious day of the World Cup final on 25 March 1992. He became the first and so far only captain to win World Cup for Pakistan. 

Now Misbah-ul-Haq holds both records of being the oldest player and the oldest captain for Pakistan. He is still eight years younger for the world record of being oldest ODI player. Netherland’s Nolan Clarke holds the world record of being the oldest ODI player when he played against South Africa at Rawalpindi at the age of 47 years and 247 days in the 1996 World Cup.

Misbah-ul-Haq is still five years younger to beat the world record of being the oldest ODI captain. England’s slow left-arm orthodox bowler Norman Gifford captained England at the age of 44 years and 361 days against Pakistan at Sharjah in 1985 Rothmans Cup. 

OLDEST ODI PLAYERS FOR PAKISTAN

Following 12 players have played ODIs for Pakistan after the age of 36:

Player                   Age        Opponent           Venue                  Batting                  Bowling

Misbah-ul-Haq  39-155   South Africa       Sharjah                31(49)                  --                                                         30.10.2013

Younis Ahmed   39-151   India                  Hyderabad(Ind)  26(69)                   --                             20.03.1987

Imran Khan         39-121   England           Melbourne         72(110)                 1/43(6.2)              25.03.1992

Javed Miandad 38-271   India                  Bangalore            38(64), 2 ct          --                             09.03.1996

Zaheer Abbas    38-102   Sri Lanka        Hyderabad(Pak)  26(27)                   2/26(7)                 03.11.1985

Abdul Qadir        38-048   Sri Lanka         Sharjah                 7*(7)                     0/35(7.2)              02.11.1993

Mohammad Nazir 37-308 Australia           Sydney                 2*(8)                     0/67(9)                 10.01.1984

Inzamam-ul-Haq 37-018 Zimbabwe          Kingston              37(35), 3 ct          --                             21.03.2007

Wasim Akram    36-274   Zimbabwe        Bulawayo            DNB                       --                             04.03.2003

Mohammad Yousuf 36-073 SA                Dubai                    3(5)                        --                             08.11.2010

Saleem Malik     36-053   India               Manchester          6(19)                      --                             08.06.1999

Asif Iqbal          36-014   West Indies        The Oval              17(20), 1 ct          4/56(11)               20.06.1979

OLDEST ODI PLAYERS FOR EACH COUNTRY

Following is the list of the oldest player for each country that has played One Day International cricket:

Nolan Clarke      47-257   Netherlands v SA at Rawalpindi 32(46)                   --                             05.03.1996           

John Traicos       45-312   Zimbabwe v India at Pune            4(6)                        1/50(10)               25.03.1993

Norman Gifford 44-361 England v Pak at Sharjah               0, 1 ct                    4/23(10)               26.03.1985

Rahul Sharma    43-308   Hong Kong v Pak at Colombo      1(3)                        --                             18.07.2004

Jan Louw             43-226   Namibia v Zim at Harare                DNB, 1 ct              1/60(10)               10.02.2003

Donald Pringle   43-44     East Africa v Eng at Birmingham 3(12)                      0/41(12)               14.06.1975

Donovan Blake  42-284   USA v Aus at Southampton         0(2)                        0/7(1)                    13.09.2004

Somachandra de Silva 42-261 SL v WI at Melbourne         5(19)                      --                             27.02.1985

Clive Rice             42-114   SA v Ind at New Delhi                     DNB                       1/54(9)                 14.11.1991

Bobby Simpson 42-068   Aus v WI at Castries                        23(29), 1 ct          2/30(7)                 12.04.1978

Sunil Dhaniram  41-261   Canada v Neth at Rotterdam        9(18)                      0/16(3)                 05.07.2010

Iain Philip             40-349   Scotland v BD at Edinburgh          3(17), 3 ct            --                             24.05.1999

Jahangir Shah    40-283   Bangladesh v NZ at Sharjah           DNB, 1 ct              0/62(9)                 28.04.1990

Lance Gibbs        40-251   WI v SL  at Manchester               DNB                       0/17(4)                 07.06.1975

Bevan Congdon  40-156   NZ v Eng at Manchester                2(21)                      0/26(11)               17.07.1978

Stephen Tikolo  39-268   Kenya v Zim at Kolkata                   10(14)                   0/49(7)                 20.03.2011

Misbah-ul-Haq  39-155   Pakistan v SA at Sharjah                 31(49)                       --                             30.10.2013

David Jonston    39-130   Ireland v Scotland at Belfast            24(34)                   0/60(9)                 06.09.2013

Shaukat Dukanwala 39-40 UAE v Neth at Lahore                 DNB                       5/29(10)               01.03.1996

Mohinder Amarnath 39-36 India v WI at Mumbai               15(47)                   --                             30.10.1989

David Hemp       38-151   Bermuda v Neth at Potchefstroom     81(101), 1 ct --                             08.04.2009

Karim Sadiq        29-228   Afghanistan v Kenya at Sharjah DNB                       2/10(7)                 04.10.2013

ICC’s credibility is at stake

For last quarter century, international cricket is haunted by ball tampering controversies. Latest in the list is Faf du Plessis of South Africa. During Pakistan’s second innings in Dubai Test match, he was caught forcibly rubbing one side of the ball against zipper-lined pockets of his trouser. It was fairly obvious that Faf du Plessis was deliberately tampering the cricket ball to help his fast bowlers.

The ICC confirmed that the five-run penalty and the change of ball after 30 overs was due to ball tampering. “As per 42.1.1 of ICC playing conditions, the umpires replaced the ball and fined South Africa team five penalty runs for ball tampering”.

Faf du Plessis was not given any match suspension. He was only fined 50% of his match fee. That showed double standards of ICC in dealing with ball tampering issues. On the previous occasion when a team was imposed five run penalty, Pakistan was on the receiving end and was widely accused as ‘cheats’. It was at The Oval against England in 2006. 

Pakistan Cricket Board and former England captain Michael Vaughan challenged ICC over punishment given to Faf du Plessis. Pakistan has demanded explanation from ICC. Michael Vaughan has demanded severe action against Faf du Plessis and a ban of at least 10 Test matches.

The incidence caused much expected outrage in Pakistan and other Asian countries. A careful look on to the list of ball tampering controversies in international cricket, clearly suggests that ICC has double standards. Whenever an Asian cricketer was charged, he was penalized with match suspensions and his team was widely accused of being ‘cheats’, while all ‘white’ cricketers got away with the charges with minimal or no punishment at all. Let’s have a look on to previous incidents:

• ·         New Zealand worked on the ball with a bottle top during the third Test match against Pakistan at Faisalabad in 1990. Kiwi paceman Chris Pringle took 11 wickets in the match but New Zealand lost the Test and was whitewashed in the series 3-0. 

• ·         England captain Michael Atherton was caught rubbing the ball with loose soil kept in his pocket during Lord’s Test match against South Africa in 1994. He was fined and British press demanded resignation. Michael Atherton did not resign and kept on captaining England cricket team.

• ·         Pakistan’s paceman Waqar Younis was the first player suspended for ball tampering. It was during a triangular One Day Internationals series in Sri Lanka in 2000. He was caught to have gouged the side of the ball with his thumb nail.

• ·         India’s Sachin Tendulkar was also suspended for one match when he was caught scuffing the seam of the ball during the second Test match against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 2001. 

• ·         In Pakistan’s fourth Test against England at The Oval in 2006, umpires Darrell Hair of Australia and Billy Doctrove of West Indies, docked Pakistan five runs for ball tampering. Pakistan refused to take the field and forfeited the match in protest.

• ·         England bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad were accused of deliberately standing on the ball with their spikes during a Test match against South Africa in 2010. No charges were formally laid against two fast bowlers and they got away with the charges.

• ·         Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi tried to bite the ball in a One Day International against Australia at Perth in 2010. The third umpire spotted him and ordered the ball to be replaced. Shahid Afridi was banned for two matches.

• ·         Sri Lankan team accused Australian seamer Peter Siddle of ball tampering by lifting seam of the ball in 2012. Peter Siddle was cleared of all charges.

• ·         Cricket commentator and former England captain Bob Willis accused his fellow countrymen of ball tampering during 2013 Champions Trophy. Players denied his accusations and no formal inquiry was initiated.

The above list confirms that Waqar Younis, Shahid Afridi, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Sachin Tendulkar were penalized with match suspensions. Chris Pringle, Michael Atherton, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Peter Siddle and Faf du Plessis got away with whatever they did. ICC has double standards and that’s for sure. It is not players’ but ICC’s credibility that is greatly tarnished and severely at stake. Unless there is uniformity in the implementation of rules, ICC’s credibility would remain at stake.

Leg spinner is Pakistan’s latest export commodity

In March 1979, Pakistan played two hard-fought Test matches in Australia. In the first Test at Melbourne, Australia was chasing a target of 382 to win, was comfortably placed at 305 for 3 with Allan Border and Kim Hughes batting at 105 and 84. At that hopeless point, Sarfraz Nawaz bowled a magical spell and took seven wickets for only one run to finish with 9 for 86 in the innings. Australians crashed to 310 all out and were beaten by 71 runs. On the first day of the Test match, March 10, a boy was born in a remote town called Merguz in Pakistan’s North Western Frontier Province. His parents named the boy Fawad Ahmed. 

In the second Test played at Perth, Australia had managed first innings lead of 50. At the end of third day, Pakistan was 19 for 1. In those days, Test matches had a rest day following the third day. Next morning, March 27, was the rest day of the Test match. Thousands miles away, back in Lahore, Pakistan, a boy was born. His parents named the newborn Mohammad Imran Tahir. Pakistan lost the Test match by seven wickets on final day and the series was squared 1-1.

More than 34 years later, the same boy born on the rest day of second Test, playing for South Africa in a Test match at Dubai, minced Pakistani batting into tiny pieces. Yes, I am talking about Imran Tahir – South Africa’s Lahore-born right-arm leg spinner. The other boy, Fawad Ahmad is also a leg break googly bowler who has started his international career for Australia earlier in the year. 

Pakistan is not a great exporting country. Traditionally it has been exporting commodities like textiles, rice, carpets, leather, sports goods and manpower. In recent years, it is exporting another commodity – right-arm leg-break googly bowlers to play cricket for other countries. Two of exported leg spinners Fawad Ahmad and Imran Tahir are playing for Australia and South Africa these days. Ironically Pakistan does not have any leg-break bowler to play for its own country since Mushtaq Ahmed got retired a decade ago.

Fawad Ahmad, who had played 10 First-class matches in Pakistan for Abbottabad and Pakistan Customs, fled to Australia in 2010 as asylum seeker. He settled in Melbourne and started playing for Victoria. Eventually he qualified to play for Australia and in the summer of 2013 played three One Day Internationals and two Twenty20 International matches for his adopted country.

Imran Tahir made his First-class debut for his home team Lahore City against Faisalabad in a Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match at Faisalabad in November 1996. Interestingly, that was also First-class debut match for Faisalabad off spinner Saeed Ajmal. Both were teenage boys at that time and both captured four wickets each in first innings against each other’s team.

Imran Tahir played First-class cricket for Lahore City, WAPDA, REDCO, Lahore Whites, SNGPL, Sialkot, Lahore Blues, PIA, Lahore Lions, Pakistan A and Lahore Ravi between 1996 and 2006. He moved to England in 2003 and played First-class cricket for Middlesex, Yorkshire, Hampshire and Warwickshire between 2003 and 2011. His final destination was South Africa where he started playing First-class cricket for Titans in 2007 and later played for Easterns, Dolphins and Lions before gradually moving up the ladder to be part of South African Test team.

Imran Tahir sunk Pakistani batting line for only 99 on opening day of second Test match at Dubai. He captured 5 wickets for 32 runs without help of any fielder – four clean bowled and one leg-before-wicket. He became first right-arm spin bowler to take five-for since South Africa returned to international cricket twenty years ago. Since then four bowlers Paul Harris, Robin Peterson, Nicky Boje and Paul Adams returned with five-wicket hauls and all were slow left-arm orthodox bowlers.

Last right-arm bowler to take five wickets in an innings for South Africa was Harry Bromfield, an off-spinner who did that against England in 1965. Hugh Tayfield was the most famous South African all-time spin bowler. He was an off spinner who took five-fors on 14 occasions in 1950s.

Aubrey Faulkner was South Africa’s best right-arm leg-break googly bowler in its all-time history. He played 25 Test matches between 1906 and 1924 and took 82 wickets including four five-fors. He holds the record for best bowling performance by a South African leg spinner when he took 6 for 17 against England at Leeds in 1907. He captured five-for three more times in his career. 

Before Imran Tahir, last leg-break googly bowler to take five wickets in an innings for South Africa was Bruce Mitchell against Australia at Durban in 1936. Xen Balaskas against England at Lords in 1935 and Quintin McMillan who did twice against New Zealand at Christchurch and Wellington in 1932 were the other two leg-break googly bowlers to take five wickets in an innings for South Africa. 

Imran Tahir also holds another record that no bowler cherishes – conceding most runs in a Test match without taking a wicket. Pakistan’s Khan Mohammad held that most unwanted record for 54 years who conceded 259 runs in 54 overs against West Indies at Kingston in February 1958 in the innings when Sir Garry Sobers’ smashed world record score of 365 not out. 

Imran Tahir eventually broke Khan Mohammad’s record in November 2012 against Australia at Adelaide. He conceded 260 runs without taking any wicket in only 37 overs. Zimababwe’s Ray Price and South Africa’s Nicky Boje are only two other bowlers in Test cricket’s history to concede more than 200 runs in a Test match without taking a wicket.

Imran Tahir and Fawad Ahmed, both are in action at international level. Imran Tahir became first South African leg-break googly bowler to take five wickets in a Test match innings in 77 years. It is yet to be seen that how long they can play for their adopted countries. Pakistan discarded and others embraced them. It is a question mark on the abilities of Pakistani selectors too. Notwithstanding, leg spinner is the most exciting export commodity for Pakistan these days.

Pakistan and a Pakistani surprise everyone

The Opening day of second cricket Test match between Pakistan and South Africa at Dubai did fetch two big surprises – one by Pakistani team itself and the other by a Pakistan-born South African bowler. 

Ever-fragile Pakistani batting line-up was bundled out for a paltry 99 in less than 37 overs. The wrecker-in-chief was Imran Tahir – a right-arm leg-break googly bowler who was born and groomed in Pakistan – took his career-best of 5 for 32 in 13 overs for his adopted country.

Last time when Imran Tahir bowled in a Test match, he was thrashed by Australians at Adelaide nearly a year ago. He returned with figures of none for 260 in the Test match. His comeback with a five-wicket haul against his ex-native Pakistan was even a greater surprise. Anyone could have guessed that South African pace battery can molest Pakistan but no one could have predicted about Imran Tahir’s success.

Pakistan emulated its own score when they played last Test match in Dubai – against England nearly 21 months ago. Pakistan was all out for 99 on that occasion too, but later recovered to win the Test match by 71 runs and whitewashed English team 3-0. 

It was 16^th occasion when Pakistan was bowled out for less than 100 runs in a Test match innings in its all-time history; third time against South Africans. Only nine months ago, Pakistan was bundled out for its lowest score by South Africans – 49 at Johannesburg with Dale Steyn taking 6 for 8. This was Pakistan’s lowest score against any country in its entire history of Test cricket.

Another under-100 score by Pakistan against South Africa was at Faisalabad in October 1997. In fact, Pakistan had the upper edge in that Test match until last 30 odd overs when Pakistani batting collapsed suddenly. Pakistan was set only 146 to win, were crashed to 92 all out. 

Out of 16 scores of 99 or less, six crashed under-100 innings were against England, five against Australia, three against South Africa and one apiece against the West Indies and Sri Lanka. 

Pakistan’s lowest score against each country in Test cricket is as follows: South Africa 49 at Johannesburg in 2013, Australia 53 at Sharjah in 2002, England 72 at Birmingham in 2010, West Indies 77 at Lahore in 1986, Sri Lanka 90 at Colombo in 2009, New Zealand 102 at Faisalabad in 1990, Zimbabwe 103 at Peshawar in 1998, India 116 at Bangalore in 1987 and Bangladesh 175 at Multan in 2003. Ironically three Test matches from the above list were eventually won by Pakistan – against New Zealand, India and Bangladesh.

Pakistan’s Test match against Australia at Sharjah in 2002 was the worst in its entire history. Pakistan was bowled out for 59 in the first innings and was followed by 53 all out in the second. Only one batsman in either innings was able to reach the double figures. Interestingly Pakistan’s total of two innings of the Test match was 112. It was less than Matthew Hayden’s individual score of 119 in Australia’s only innings.

Pakistan’s batting has been very vulnerable in recent years. 10 out of 16 innings when Pakistan was crashed for less than 100 in a Test innings were played in last 11 years since October 2002. In first 50 years of Pakistan’s Test cricket history, there were only six such instances. 

True, Pakistan was bowled out for 99 against England at the same ground last year and eventually won the Test match, when England was world’s number 1 Test team. Can it be repeated against current number 1 team? Co-incidences are not so common and South Africans play much more hard cricket.