Between the 1954–55 and 1970–71 seasons, 13
first-class cricket teams from
East Pakistan played in the
Pakistan domestic cricket competitions, the
Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and the
Ayub Trophy. With the creation of
Bangladesh in 1971, this participation ended. An East Pakistan Governor's XI also played a first-class match against the touring International XI in 1961–62.
List of teams
''NB:'' Team names are as they appear on CricketArchive scorecards. Some names differ in ''
Wisden'', such as "East Pakistan C.A." and "East Pakistan Sports Federation", both of which Cricket Archive calls simply East Pakistan.
The only one of these teams to defeat sides from
West Pakistan was East Pakistan, which defeated
Hyderabad four times,
Khairpur once, and a combined Hyderabad-Khairpur-Quetta team once.
East Pakistan also played first-class matches against the touring
Indians
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
in 1954-55 and the
MCC in 1955–56. The touring team won on each occasion.
Leading players
The only East Pakistan player to be selected in the
Pakistan Test team was
Niaz Ahmed. Several Test players from West Pakistan played for East Pakistan teams, however; when East Pakistan defeated Hyderabad-Khairpur-Quetta in 1966–67, the losing team protested that six of the East Pakistan team were actually from West Pakistan and should have been ineligible.
Abdul Latif Abdul Latif ( ar, عبد اللطيف, translit=ʻAbd al-Laṭīf) is a Muslim male given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Laṭīf'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which gave rise to ...
, who captained East Pakistan teams in several matches, was a prominent player in the 1960s. He scored three centuries, and took 24 wickets for 97 with his leg-spin in two consecutive matches for East Pakistan Greens in January 1968.
Shamim Kabir, who played 15 first-class matches for various East Pakistan teams, later captained
Bangladesh in their first match, against the touring
MCC in January 1977.
Javed Masood hit the highest score for an East Pakistan team when he scored 215 in the victory over Hyderabad in 1962–63.
According to
Shaharyar Khan
Shahryar Mohammad Khan ( ur, شہریار محمد خان; born 12 March 1934) is a former career Pakistan diplomat who became Foreign Secretary of Pakistan in 1990, and remained so until his retirement from service in 1994. He later served as ...
,
Niaz Ahmed was used for political purposes, to disguise Pakistan's neglect of cricket in East Pakistan: "There was a club-level cricketer from Dhaka called Niaz Ahmed who was Pakistan's perennial 12th man for quite some time, the Pakistan Cricket Board attempting to give the entirely unconvincing impression that East Pakistan was on the verge of national representation. The fact was that no effort was made by the governments of Pakistan or by the cricket boards to promote cricket in East Pakistan."
[ Shaharyar M. Khan and Ali Khan, ''Cricket Cauldron'', I.B. Tauris, London, 2013, p. 26.]
Grounds
Most first-class matches in East Pakistan were played at
Dacca Stadium. Pakistan also played seven Tests at the stadium between 1955 and 1969.
See also
*
History of cricket in Pakistan from 1947 to 1970
*
Cricket in Bangladesh
References
{{reflist
External links
CricketArchive* ''
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' "Cricket in Pakistan" section, 1956 to 1972
Former senior cricket clubs of Pakistan
Pakistani first-class cricket teams
Bangladeshi first-class cricket teams
History of East Pakistan
East Pakistan cricketers