Legends of Pakistan Cricket - Part 2 – Sarfraz Nawaz
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sarfraz-Nawaz-Malik-c88831, the legendary pacer of the Pakistan is one of the pioneers of reverse swing in the history of International cricket.
The Lahore born Nawaz started his cricketing career at the age of 20 with a Test match against England at Karachi on March 6, 1969. However, a dismal performance on his International debut kept him away from the national side for the next four years before he was called back into the side for the tour of Australia in 1972-73.
The veteran ably capitalized the second opportunity given to him and proved himself with both bat and the ball down under. He recorded stunning innings figures of 4 for 53 and 4 for 56 at the Sydney Cricket Ground to prove selector’s decision of recalling him was quite accurate.
Since then he proved himself a medium-fast pacer of class with an unerring accuracy while delivering. His knack to hit the ball while batting down the order made him a useful all-rounder. He was the third ever http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 cricketer to score 1000 runs as well as bag 100 wickets in Test cricket. As a matter of fact, Sarfaraz’ best performances have been against the mighty Aussies.
His most memorable performance came from the 1979 tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. On March 15, 1979 the legendary pacer delivered a memorable spell at the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground which saw him picking up nine wickets in an innings. Off the total nine wickets, seven were claimed in 33 balls conceding only one run.
In that very Test match, Australia while chasing 382 to win were 305 for 3. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kimberley-John-Hughes-c71468 were quite set at the crease with individual scores of 105 and 84. But Sarfaraz’ 7 for 1 in 33 balls led to Australia’s dismissal for 310.
Nawaz’ ability to seam the ball and swing it both way with equal effectiveness made him so amazing at his time. He was also famous for bowling bouncers on the fast bowlers of opposition when batting.
Nawaz, who had made his Test debut against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 in 1969, went on to play 55 Tests for Pakistan before calling a day off in 1984. His last Test appearance was also against England on March 19, 1984 at Lahore. In his 55 Test matches, Nawaz picked up 177 wickets at an average of 32.75 and an economy rate of 2.49. He also scored 1045 runs including four half centuries.
The all-rounder debuted in the One Day International format of the game in February 1973 with a match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 at Christchurch and played his last ODI against the same side in November 1984. During his 11-year-long One-Day career he played 45 One Day Internationals picking up 63 wickets at an average of 23.22.
The veteran mastered the reverse swing and passed it on to the world cup winning Pakistan skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-Khan-c64237 who later passed it on to his successors.
He was also an integral part of county side, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Northamptonshire-c824 which he played for in two separate spells.
After retirement from International cricket, Sarfaraz contested successfully for the Provincial Assembly of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Punjab-c833. He was elected as the MPA (member provincial assembly) in 1985 and remained the member of the assembly for three years.
He later became commentator and an outspoken cricket analyst.
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