The first Legend of Pakistani cricket
Listen to Munir Dar (ex-Olympian and hockey commentator) at 21:09
Fazal Mahmood | Pakistan Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
re: Great Documentary on Fazal Mahmood
The original heart-throb, blue-eyed etc.
The spiritual father of all Pakistan’s pace bowling, Fazal was responsible for all of the country’s earliest, greatest triumphs. He wasn’t quick, but he had a truckload of stamina, unrelenting accuracy and a vicious legcutter. On matting wickets, or rain-affected surfaces, he could be unplayable. In key triumphs against India, England, West Indies and Australia, he took 12 or more wickets to help put Pakistan on the map. He was also impossibly handsome.** He was Pakistan’s answer to Australia’s dashing all-rounder Keith Miller and was often compared to **England’s Alec Bedser, who said of him: “If cricket was played as much in those days as now, Fazal would have taken a thousand wickets.”
He had immense stamina. He one bowled 84.5 overs (just imagine) at a stretch from one end. His fingers started bleeding but he carried on..
Sir Garfield Sobers was his 100th wicket in tests
**From 1940 to 1947 Fazal went to bed no later than 10 p.m. He rose each morning at 4.30 a.m., and whatever the weather, walked five miles and ran five miles.
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Wisden - Fazal Mahmood