Mohammad Munaf (2 November 1935 – 28 January 2020) 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 who played in four

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), ...

from 1959 to 1962. He played first-class cricket in Pakistan from 1953 to 1971.

Early life and education

Munaf was born in Bombay to a Konkani family who migrated to Pakistan from the west coast of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. He was educated at Sindh Maddrasa-tul-Islam.

Career

After settling in Karachi, he, as a strapping young fast bowler, made his name in the Rubie Shield school tournament. At that time, he was good enough with the bat to have opened the batting with Hanif Mohammad for Sind Madrassah. Khadim H. Baloch wrote in his ''Encyclopaedia of Pakistan Cricket'' that Munaf delivered off a short run-up and had a slingy, round-arm action, and some reports had him, at his peak, as one of the fastest bowlers in the country. But his career coincided with early riches in Pakistan's pace resources. Fazal Mahmood, Khan Mohammad and Mahmood Hussain were all starters for the national side ahead of him. He toured the West Indies in 1957-58 without playing in any of the five Tests. His debut Test against Australia in 1959-60 only happened because Hussain was unavailable. He would go on to play only three more Tests, all in Pakistan, with a best of 4 for 42 against England in Lahore in 1961-62. He was also part of Pakistan's squad to India on the 1960-61 tour, though once again he didn't play a single Test. Munaf's potential was never in doubt, though, as evidenced by two trips he made to England as part of 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 ...

team. His career-best figures of 8 for 84 came on an Eaglets tour in 1963, against Kent. England may have been a good place for his bowling and though he was picked for what turned out to be a disastrous tour of England in 1962, he had to withdraw with a leg injury. He worked for Pakistan International Airlines. After he retired he moved to the Netherlands and lived in Amsterdam.

References

External links

Mohammad Munaf
at

Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

Mohammad Munaf
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Munaf, Mohammad 1935 births 2020 deaths Pakistani people of Konkani descent Pakistan Test cricketers Pakistani cricketers Sindh cricketers Cricketers from Mumbai East Pakistan cricketers Karachi Whites cricketers Karachi A cricketers Pakistan International Airlines cricketers Pakistan International Airlines A cricketers Pakistan International Airlines B cricketers Pakistan Eaglets cricketers Pakistani emigrants to the Netherlands Sindh Madressatul Islam University alumni