November 27, 2004. There was nothing spectacular about the start the Quaid-e-Azam match got off to at Iqbal Stadium. However, about an hour, 85 balls, and 4 wickets later, Karachi Blues captain Rashid Latif decided to concede the match to Faisalabad. Abhishek Mukherjee looks back at the shortest First-Class match in history.
There have been instances of captains giving walkover to the opposition. Even at Test level, Pakistan conceded the Oval Test of 2006 after Darrell Hair’s allegations of ball-tampering (which, like all contemporary controversies, got the word ‘Gate’ appended to it and was labelled Hairgate).
There have been instances in ODIs as well. In 1978-79 at Sahiwal, for example, Bishan Singh Bedi conceded the match when four consecutive bouncers from Sarfraz Nawaz soared well over the head of the batsman. And in 2001, Alec Stewart conceded a match at Headingley following a pitch invasion when Pakistan needed 4 from 61 balls.
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There were instances in First-Class cricket as well. There have been three instances when the matches did not last even 200 balls, the top three being in Pakistan.
Sargodha conceded one to Bahawalpur 1990-91 after they reached 112 for 3 in 27 overs “following an umpiring dispute”. Exactly what the umpiring dispute was is not very clear: it was certainly not a dismissal, for the 3rd wicket had fallen at 86.
A similar incident had earlier taken place at Benoni, in 1982-83. Eastern Province batted 32 overs to reach 93 for 7 (opener Ganief Abrahams was retired hurt as well) against Transvaal. Then Eastern Province “walked out in protest against the umpiring decisions”, conceding the match. The wickets included Khaya Majola, son of Gerald, who was out leg-before to John Kleinveldt, uncle of Rory.
Note: Another famous concession was by the Thakore Saheb of Rajkot, who gave Maharashtra a walkover with BB Nimbalkar on 443, a mere 9 short of Don Bradman’s then First-Class record of 452 not out.
At Islamabad in 2008-09 Quetta and Rawalpindi forfeited their first innings after there was no play on the first two days. Mohammad Rameez then bowled out Quetta in 13.3 overs before Rawalpindi rushed to the target in 6.4. The match lasted a mere 121 balls.
But none of these was the shortest decided match. That ‘credit’ lies with the contest between Faisalabad and Karachi Blues at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.
One hour of Shahid Nazir
Shadab Kabir and Ashraf Ali walked out. Faisalabad captain Misbah-ul-Haq tossed the ball to Shahid Nazir, who had taken 5 for 53 on Test debut, but found himself out of favour as he lost form over time.
Nazir struck in his fifth over, trapping Kabir leg-before for 3. Naumanullah was given out leg-before next ball. The score read 12 for 2.
Hasan Raza, the 14-year-old Test debutant, battled on as Nazir got deliveries that kicked off the pitch at awkward angles. Nazir was brisk but not express, but the uneven bounce caused the batsmen discomfort. At the other end, Samiullah Khan maintained a steady line and length, making it impossible to score off him.
The pair hung around for over half an hour before Nazir had his third LBW victim of the innings, snaring Raza. Five minutes later Ashraf went the same way. The score read 33 for 4.
Saeed Bin Nasir joined Farhan Adil. By this stage Samiullah had been replaced by the quicker Ahmed Hayat.
Nazir, four LBWs under his belt, had bowled unchanged. He now ran in to resume his 8th over after Hayat had bowled a maiden. Adil survived the first ball.
Then a commotion followed as Rashid Latif, captain of Karachi Blues, signalled his players to come off. He had declared with after a mere 14.1 overs, his team on 33 for 4.
“I asked the players to come off after declaring the innings because the umpires were not allowing them to come off otherwise,” Latif later told The News.
Under ideal circumstances, the umpires should probably have intervened, but officials Rasheed Bhatti and Mian Mohammad Aslam had not taken a decision. Probably they thought there was nothing wrong with the pitch.
If the declaration had come as a shock, what followed stunned those present at the ground. Latif actually conceded the match: “The pitch was not fit for a First-Class match and the batsmen were getting bat on ball with difficulty due to the unusual movement and variable bounce.”
Latif later provided the reason to match referee Khalid Niazi in writing, but Niazi probably had no choice but to award the match to Faisalabad.
At 85 balls, the match remains the shortest ever in the history of First-Class cricket.
What followed?
–The 9 points Faisalabad turned out to be crucial. Both Faisalabad and Peshawar topped the table with 63 points apiece, and Faisalabad won the tournament that year on net run rate.
– Latif was fined PKR 15,000 and banned for six months from First-Class cricket, but Karachi Blues were allowed to play on: the verdict read that Latif had acted independently. The sentence was later reduced to one month.
Brief scores:
Karachi Blues 33 for 4 (Shahid Nazir 4 for 22) conceded the match to Faisalabad.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor at CricketCountry and CricLife. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)
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