Ahmed Mustafa (7 March 1944 – 10 August 2013) was a Pakistani

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er in the 1950s and 1960s who later became a prominent coach. At 10 years 352 days, Ahmed Mustafa was, officially at least, the youngest-ever

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

er.

Playing career

Mustafa was one of the schoolboys who made their first-class debuts for Pakistan Combined Schools against the touring Indian Test team in February 1955. Mustafa's stated birth date was 7 March 1944, which would have made him only 10 years old during the match, and the youngest first-class cricketer of all time, but in later life he revealed that he had been "actually about 15".''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' 2014, p. 191. He played first-class cricket in Pakistan irregularly until 1969–70, but his career was hampered by injuries sustained in a car accident. He scored one century, 110 for Karachi C against Sind A in 1957–58, when he added 165 for the fifth wicket with Salimuddin, one of his former teammates in the Pakistan Combined Schools team. He toured the UK and Ireland with the

Pakistan Eaglets Pakistan Eaglets were a team of young cricketers from Pakistan, founded by Justice A.R. Cornelius. They toured England and Wales every year from 1952 to 1959, Malaya and Ceylon in 1960-61, and England again in 1963. Most of their matches were no ...

in 1959, and opened the batting for the Karachi team that won the

Ayub Trophy The Patron's Trophy was a cricket competition that was held in Pakistan between 1960–61 and 2018–19 mainly among teams representing the government and semi-government departments, corporations, commercial organisations, business houses, banks, ...

in 1964–65.

Coaching career

Mustafa founded Pakistan's first cricket academy in 1987, the Cricket Coaching Centre in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

. With financial support from friends and with many past players willing to lend their services to coach, he provided free coaching to young players for more than 20 years until deteriorating health forced him to retire. He received the ICC Centenary Medal for volunteers in 2010. His pupils included the

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

players Azam Khan, Faisal Iqbal and

Owais Shah Owais Alam Shah (born 22 October 1978) is a former England cricketer. A middle-order Batting (cricket), batsman, he played for Middlesex County Cricket Club, Middlesex from 1995 to 2010 and Essex County Cricket Club, Essex from 2011 to 2013 b ...

. In 2003 the

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Coun ...

allowed the Cricket Coaching Centre to move to the

National Stadium, Karachi The National Stadium (Urdu: نیشنل سٹیڈیم), also referred to as National Bank Cricket Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a cricket stadium in Karachi, Pakistan, owned by the Pakistan Cricket Board. It is the home ground of Karachi Kin ...

References

External links

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"When 10-year-old Ahmed Mustafa made his first-class debut"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mustafa, Ahmed 1944 births 2013 deaths Pakistani cricketers Karachi cricketers Muhajir people Pakistani cricket coaches Karachi Whites cricketers Karachi Blues cricketers Karachi Greens cricketers Karachi C cricketers Khairpur cricketers Cricketers from Lucknow