Dildar Mohammad Awan (1 November 1928 – 7 January 2000) 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 str ...

er who played

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 officia ...

in Pakistan from 1958/59 to 1972/73. He was a right-arm off-spin bowler. He later became an

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

Career with Combined Services

Making his first-class debut a few weeks after turning 30, Awan took 5 for 19 and 3 for 16 in his first match, for

Combined Services The Combined Services cricket team represents the British Armed Forces. The team played at first-class level in England for more than forty years in the mid-twentieth century. Their first first-class match was against Gentlemen of England at Lo ...

against Rawalpindi in December 1958. He was the most successful bowler in 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 ...

that season, taking 25 wickets at 16.36 and helping Combined Services into the final 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 c ...

. Karachi won the final by 279 runs, Awan taking three wickets, but the course of the match was overshadowed by the death of the Karachi wicket-keeper Abdul Aziz. Batting late on the first day, Aziz was struck on the chest by a slow off-break from Awan, fell to the ground a moment later, never regained consciousness, and died in the ambulance on the way to hospital. Later in the season, Awan played for a Commander-in-Chief's XI against the touring

West Indians A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use ...

, taking three wickets. In 1961–62, bowling unchanged through each innings, he took 7 for 65 (his best innings figures) and 3 for 28 for Combined Services against

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 t ...

. A few days earlier he had taken 6 for 47 and 4 for 50 against

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 ...

. In the second innings, he and Salahuddin bowled unchanged through an innings of 125.3 overs. Awan had match figures of 80.5–44–97–10. In the final of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy against

Karachi Blues Karachi cricket teams competed in the Pakistani first-class cricket tournaments the Patron's Trophy and Quaid-e-Azam Trophy from 1953-54 to 2018-19. Beginning with the 2019-20 season, the city of Karachi has been represented in the Quaid-e-Azam T ...

, batting at number three in the second innings, he made his highest score, 32, the top score of the innings, but Karachi Blues won by four wickets. Awan played for a Combined XI against the touring MCC later in the season, taking two wickets in a match ruined by rain. In 17 matches for Combined Services, he took 95 wickets at 15.50.

Later career

The Combined Services team went into abeyance after 1964–65. After two matches for Sargodha in 1964-65 and 1965-66 Awan did not play again until the inaugural matches played by the Pakistan Air Force cricket team in 1969–70 when he was 40. He was their leading wicket-taker that season, with 10 wickets at 21.30, but the side lost all three of their matches. In 1970–71 he captained Pakistan Air Force to their only victory, over his old side Sargodha, taking match figures of 33–19–58–6. He did not play in 1971–72, but he did stand as an umpire in two of Sargodha's matches. He returned to play in one last match in 1972–73, when at the age of 44 he opened the bowling for Pakistan Air Force and took 3 for 126 off 58 overs against Lahore B.Lahore B v Pakistan Air Force 1972-73
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Awan, Dildar 1928 births 2000 deaths Pakistani cricketers Combined Services (Pakistan) cricketers Sargodha cricketers Pakistan Air Force cricketers Cricketers from Jalandhar

Career with Combined Services

Later career

See also

References