Combined Services (Pakistan) cricket team were a
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 ...
team for members of the
Pakistan Armed Forces
The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...
. They competed in Pakistan's first-class tournaments between 1953-54 and 1978-79.
1953-54 to 1964-65
Combined Services were one of the seven teams that competed in
the first season
''The First Season'' is a Canadian drama film, released in 1989. The film stars Kate Trotter as Alex Cauldwell, a woman in British Columbia who, following the death of her fisherman husband Frank (Dwight Koss), tries to support herself and her dau ...
of the
Quaid-i-Azam Trophy
The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket competition in Pakistan. With few exceptions, it has been staged annually since it was first played during the 1953–54 season. Domestic cricket in Pakistan has undergone many reorganis ...
in 1953-54. They dominated their first match, against
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 ...
,
Mohammed Ghazali
Mohammad Ebrahim Zainuddin "Ebbu" Ghazali (15 June 1924 – 26 April 2003) was a Pakistan Air Force officer, cricketer and cricket administrator who played for Pakistan in two Tests in 1954.
Early life and family
Ghazali was born in Bombay, Br ...
scoring 160. In their second match their total of 405 was not enough to secure a first-innings lead against
Bahawalpur
Bahawalpur () is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. With inhabitants as of 2017, it is Pakistan's 11th most populous city.
Founded in 1748, Bahawalpur was the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur, ruled by the Abbasi fa ...
, who proceeded to the finals and won the trophy. Combined Services then made a short tour of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, where they won the only first-class match, against the Ceylon Cricket Association.
They played a match against the touring
Indians in 1954-55, losing by an innings. They were more successful in that season's Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, reaching the final, where they lost by nine wickets to Karachi, for whom the Mohammad brothers
Wazir,
Hanif
In Islam, a ( ar, حنيف, ḥanīf; plural: , ), meaning "renunciate", is someone who maintains the pure monotheism of the patriarch Abraham. More specifically, in Islamic thought, renunciates were the people who, during the pre-Islamic perio ...
and
Raees, all scored centuries. They drew a match against the touring
MCC in 1955-56,
Shujauddin making 147 and taking 6 for 71.
Combined Services easily won their first two matches in 1956-57, against
East Pakistan Greens and East Pakistan Whites in
Dacca
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...
. When they dismissed East Pakistan Whites for 33,
Miran Bux
Malik Miran Bakhsh (20 April 1907 – 8 February 1991) was a Pakistani international cricketer who played in two Test matches in 1955. Known throughout his playing career as Miran Bux, he was aged 47 years and 284 days when he played his first Te ...
took 6 for 15. They were in turn beaten by an innings by
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
,
Fazal Mahmood
Fazal Mahmood PP, HI (18 February 1927 – 30 May 2005) was a Pakistani international cricketer. He played in 34 Test matches and took 139 wickets at a bowling average of 24.70. The first Pakistani to pass 100 wickets, he reached the landm ...
taking 6 for 33 and 9 for 43 and top-scoring with 91.
In 1958-59, with one victory and two first-innings leads in drawn matches, they again reached the final of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy. Once again they lost to Karachi, this time by 279 runs, Hanif Mohammad scoring another century. They also reached the semi-finals in 1959-60. They played in the inaugural
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, ...
tournament in 1960-61, when there was no Quaid-i-Azam Trophy tournament, losing their only match.
When the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy returned in 1961-62 it was in a group format rather than a knock-out format. In their first match Combined Services lost to
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...
in a low-scoring match despite the efforts of Shujauddin, who took 4 for 31 and 6 for 69 and made 68 (Combined Services' top score) and 31 (second-top score). But they won their next four matches and reached the final again. Batting first against Karachi Blues,
Imtiaz Ahmed and Shujauddin put on 269 for the first wicket, Imtiaz going on to score 251. After taking a first-innings lead Combined Services were dismissed for 143, and Karachi Blues were able to score the 217 required for victory for the loss of six wickets. It was Combined Services' third and last appearance in a final. Shujauddin was the most successful bowler in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy in 1961-62, taking 48 wickets at an average of 11.14. He took 4 for 8 and 8 for 53 against
Lahore A.
Combined Services won two matches and lost one in 1962-63. In the victory over
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
,
Munir Malik
Munir Malik ( ur, منيرملک; 10 July 1934 – 30 November 2012) was a Pakistani cricketer who played three Tests for Pakistan between 1959 and 1962. A right-arm fast-medium bowler, he took nine wickets in Test cricket at an average ...
took 7 for 39 and 4 for 39, as well as making the second-top score of 32 in the first innings. They drew their only match in 1963-64, then won one and lost one in 1964-65, when
Nayyar Hussain
Syed Nayyar Hussain (born 16 January 1936) is a former Pakistani cricketer who played first-class cricket between 1955 and 1978.
Nayyar Hussain made his first-class debut for Central Zone against the touring Indians in 1954-55, scoring 60 not ...
took 5 for 25 and 6 for 61 and top-scored in each innings with 57 and 28 in a four-wicket victory over
Sargodha
Sargodha ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city and capital of Sargodha Division, located in Punjab province, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's 12th largest city by population and one of the fastest-growing cities of the country. Sargodha is also known as ...
, then took 7 for 55 and 1 for 63 and top-scored with 58 and then second-top-scored with 46 in a three-wicket loss to Lahore Education Board.
1976-77 to 1978-79
Between December 1964 and February 1977 Combined Services played no first-class cricket. They returned in the 1976-77 season, captained by Nayyar Hussain at the age of 41, to play in the
BCCP Patron's Trophy. They played four times in the next three seasons, winning once, losing twice and drawing once. They also played in the BCCP Invitation Tournament in 1978-79, losing their only match.
Playing record
Overall Combined Services played 33 matches in various first-class tournaments, winning 14, losing 11 and drawing 8. They played three other first-class matches, winning 1, losing 1 and drawing 1. They also played a match in India in 1954-55 in a combined team with Bahawalpur, losing to
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
.
Notable players
Imtiaz Ahmed played 41
Tests
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), ...
for
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
in the 1950s and early 1960s. He played 26 matches for Combined Services, captaining the team in most of these matches, and scored 1864 runs at an average of 43.34. In the same period Shujauddin played 19 Tests, and 27 matches for Combined Services, in which he scored 1407 runs at 30.58 and took 122 wickets at 15.44.
Shujauddin bowling by team
/ref>
Other Combined Services players who played Test cricket in the 1950s and early 1960s included Abdul Hafeez Kardar
Abdul Hafeez Kardar PP, HI ( ur, ) (17 January 1925 – 21 April 1996) was a Pakistani cricketer, politician and diplomat. He was the first captain of the Pakistan cricket team. He is one of the only three players to have played Test crick ...
(the first captain of both the Pakistan Test team and Combined Services), Waqar Hasan
Waqar Hasan Mir ( ur, وقارحسن; 12 September 1932 – 10 February 2020) was a Pakistani cricketer who played in 21 Test matches from 1952 to 1959, and the last surviving member of Pakistan's inaugural Test squad. He scored 1,071 runs in ...
, Mohammed Ghazali, Miran Bux and Munir Malik. The only Combined Services player from the 1970s who played Test cricket was Naushad Ali
Naushad Ali (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006) was an Indian music director for Hindi films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is particularly known for popularising the ...
.
References
External links
First-class matches played by Combined Services
Other sources
* ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
''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 ...
'' 1955 to 1980
{{Pakistani first class cricket teams
Pakistani first-class cricket teams
Former senior cricket clubs of Pakistan
Military cricket teams
Military sport in Pakistan