July 18, 1932. The Indians had put up a decent show on the tour of England, putting up a brave fight in their first ever Test before going down to the hosts at Lord’s. They did well in the tour matches, impressing with both individual performances and team efforts. None of the feats, however, exceeded that by Nazir Ali, who smashed 52 at Harrogate out of a team total of 66. Abhishek Mukherjee looks back at a world record that still stands.
The Indians surpassed all expectations on the 1932 tour of England. The team was supposed to be led by members of the royalty, but thankfully both captain Natwarsinhji Bhavsinhji (Maharaja of Porbandar) and vice-captain Ghanshyamsinhji Daulatsinhji Jhala (KS Limbdi) were both aware of their limitations. They often pulled out of major matches, leaving CK Nayudu at the thick of things.
As a result the Indians put up a splendid show, winning 9, losing 9, and drawing 8 of their 26 First-Class matches. They also played 10 Second-Class matches, and the combined result read 13 wins, 10 defeats, and 13 draws.
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Nayudu led from the front, with 1,618 runs at 40.45 with 5 hundreds. With 65 wickets at 25.53 and three five-wicket hauls, he finished third on the wickets chart as well, and was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year. He was sensational on the tour, bringing the crowd to their feet with his massive sixes, and famously hit a ball from Warwickshire to Worcestershire.
Others to go past the 1,000-run mark were Naoomal Jaoomal (1,297) and the brothers Wazir Ali (1,229) and Nazir Ali (1,020), while the fast-bowling trio of Amar Singh (111), Mohammad Nissar (71), and Jahangir Khan (53) all went past the 50 wickets.
India jolted England in their first ever Test as well, reducing them to 19 for 3 in the first innings and 65 for 4 in the second. It took two gritty rearguard acts from Douglas Jardine to push England to victory.
No other Indian side would show such spunk on English soil till 1971.
Nazir Ali
Growing up as the younger and lesser-known of two cricket-playing brothers is not easy, but Nazir Ali had carved out a niche of his own. While big brother Wazir was next to only Nayudu in batting abilities at the time of the tour, Nazir was almost as good. True, he scored less than Wazir on the tour, but contributed with 23 wickets at 21.78 with his seam bowling. He also played in the one-off Test alongside big brother.
Arthur Gilligan had spotted Nazir during MCC’s 1926-27 tour of England. Nazir played for Sussex in 1927. Don Bradman scored a world-record 974 in Ashes 1930, but Nazir became the first Indian to dismiss him, albeit in a Second-Class match for Club Cricket Conference.
He was in excellent form on the tour, especially with ball. He started with 5 for 69 against Sussex, and followed it with 3 for 13 against Blackheath (a Second-Class match), 3 for 60 against Glamorgan, and 4 for 26 against Norfolk (once again, Second-Class).
Meanwhile, he slammed 109 against Essex and hit two fifties against Worcestershire. Just before the match in question he had scored 42 against Lancashire. He was in decent form with both bat and ball.
The match
A mere four days had passed since Hedley Verity had wrecked Nottinghamshire with 10 for 10 — still the best figures in First-Class cricket. Curiously, home captain Frank Greenwood put the Indians in, not opting to let Verity loose on them in the fourth innings.
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Janardan Navle, Jaoomal, and Wazir got off to a solid start, helping the Indians reach 102 for 1. Then Verity triggered the expected collapse, and by the time Nazir walked out India were already 108 for 4.
Nazir played his strokes. He was ninth out, he 33 scored out of 50 his team managed during his stay. The Indians were bowled out for 160, Verity taking 5 for 65. Nazir’s 33 was bettered by only Jaoomal’s 48.
There was no Herbert Sutcliffe, but Yorkshire still had Percy Holmes. By stumps, however, Nissar had clean bowled both Holmes and Wilfred Barber. Yorkshire finished on 14 for 2.
Nissar bowled with hostility on the second morning, ably supported by Amar Singh and Jahangir. The two Arthurs — Mitchell and Sellers — added 50, but Nissar kept striking, eventually finishing with 5 for 21, four of which were bowled. Greenwood declared at tea with a 1-run lead.
The Nazir blitz
Nayudu had injured his right hand while fielding, which meant Nazir was scheduled to bat at No. 5. Unfortunately, it rained during the break, and as the Sun came out, the Indians were caught on a drying wicket. Greenwood immediately got on Verity with the new ball to partner his fast bowler George Macaulay.
Nazir Ali was expected to go in early, but certainly not at 2 for 3. Navle, Jaoomal, and Wazir scored 1 apiece, and the adventurous Sorabji Colah a duck. Nayudu scored an impressive 2, but Amar Singh, Lall Singh, and Shankarrao Godambe all failed to score. The score read 32 for 8, Verity taking 2 and Macaulay 6. The eight dismissed Indians had managed 5 between them.
Remarkably, Nazir remained unfazed. With nothing to lose, he lofted Verity for 3 sixes. He also went after Macaulay, and hit 5 boundaries in all. He was ninth out for 52 when Macaulay ran through his defence. The score read 65 for 9, with Jahangir surpassing all expectations by scoring a remarkable 3.
Nissar ran a single before Jahangir holed out, giving Macaulay remarkable figures of 8 for 21 (his match figures read 10 for 50). The Indians were bowled out for a mere 66 in 70 minutes.
The astonishing part of the story was Nazir’s 52 — a whopping 78.8 per cent of the total. In fact, if one takes the 5 extras away, his 52 had come off a total of 61 off the bat, which meant he had scored 85.2 per cent of them.
The 66 scored by the Indians remain the lowest completed innings to include a fifty. If one takes out Nazir Ali and extras, the Indian scorecard read 1110200031, somewhat like a toll-free number.
Lowest First-Class completed innings to include a fifty
Total
Team
Against
Top-scorer
Score
% of total
Venue
Season
66
Indians
Somerset
Nazir Ali
52
78.80%
Harrogate
1932
68
Derbyshire
Yorkshire
Arthur Morton
50
73.50%
Chesterfield
1914
72
Norfolk
MCC
Nathaniel Pilch
52
72.20%
Lord’s
1820
73
Sussex
MCC
George Wells
55
75.30%
Lord’s
1860
76
T Mellish’s XI
W Turner’s XI
Robert Robinson
55
72.40%
Lord’s (Old)
1801
76
Pakistan Universities
United Bank Limited
Naseer Chughtai
52
68.40%
Peshawar
1978-79
Nazir’s 78.8 per cent of the team total also ranks 7th on the all-time list.
Total
Team
Against
Top-scorer
Score
% of total
Venue
Season
169
Worcestershire
Glamorgan
Glenn Turner
141
83.40%
Swansea
1977
282
Namibia
Kenya
Gerrie Snyman
230
81.60%
Sharjah
2007-08
215
Port Qasim Authority
United Bank Limited
Khalid Latif
172
80.00%
Islamabad
2015-16
387
The Rest
Hindus
Vijay Hazare
309
79.80%
Bombay
1943-44
159
United South of England XI
United North of England XI
WG Grace
126
79.20%
Hull
1876
57
MCC
Sussex
Monkey Hornby
45
78.90%
Lord’s
1890
66
Indians
Somerset
Nazir Ali
52
78.80%
Harrogate
1932
What followed?
The Indians hit back before stumps: Nissar bowled Wilfred Barber and Mitchell was run out, both for ducks. Yorkshire reached 12 for 2 by stumps.
Conditions improved the next morning, but Amar Singh claimed Greenwood early. At 23 for 3 India still sniffed a chance, but Holmes was too seasoned to let the game drift. Sellers played a good hand as well.
By the time Sellers was hit wicket off Jaoomal, Yorkshire needed a mere 10. Holmes saw them through to a 6-wicket victory in the company of wicketkeeper Arthur Wood.
Brief scores:
Indians 160 (Naoomal Jaoomal 48; Hedley Verity 5 for 65) and 66 (Nazir Ali 52; George Macaulay 8 for 21) lost to Yorkshire 161 for 8 decl. (Mohammad Nissar 5 for 21) and 68 for 4 by 6 wickets.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor at CricketCountry and CricLife. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)
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