Pakistan Eaglets were a team of young

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 ...

ers from

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, founded by Justice A.R. Cornelius. They toured

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

every year from 1952 to 1959, Malaya and Ceylon in 1960-61, and England again in 1963. Most of their matches were non- first-class, but they played 11 first-class matches between 1960 and 1963. Many Pakistan Eaglets players went on to play

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

for

Tours to England and Wales, 1952 to 1959

These tours usually lasted a few weeks in the warmer months of July and August and included matches against club sides,

minor county The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

sides, and

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

second elevens. More than half of the matches were in either

or the

west of England West of England is a combined authority area in South West England. It is made up of the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset unitary authorities. The combined authority is led by the Mayor of the West of England Dan ...

. None of the matches were first-class.

First first-class match

Pakistan Eaglets played a three-day first-class match in Lahore in May 1960 against the touring Indian Starlets side, a team of young

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 ...

n cricketers. In the drawn match,

Ijaz Butt Mohammed Ijaz Butt (born 10 March 1938) is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in eight Test matches from 1959 to 1962. A wicket keeper and right-handed opening batsman, he scored 279 runs from his brief Test career at a modest batting av ...

was the Eaglets' top scorer with 161.

Tour to Malaya, Singapore and Ceylon, 1960-61

From late August to late September 1960 the Pakistan Eaglets played four matches in Malaya, three in Singapore, and four in Ceylon. The tour ended with a first-class match against the Ceylon Cricket Association in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

, a slow, low-scoring affair that ended in a draw. Ijaz Butt top-scored in each innings with 54 and 67, and Fazal-ur-Rehman took 5 for 61 in the first innings.

Third first-class match

In 1961-62 a team from India representing the Associated Cement Company played three first-class matches in Pakistan. The match against the Pakistan Eaglets in Lahore was drawn with the Eaglets seven wickets down for 101 in pursuit of a target of 130 for victory. Iqbal Sheikh took 7 for 46 and 5 for 120 with his off-spin, and the wicket-keeper Fasihuddin made 147.

Tour to England, 1963

Pakistan Eaglets, sponsored by

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...

, played 20 matches on their 1963 tour of England and Wales.''

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 ...

'' 1964, pp. 684-92. They were captained by the experienced Test player

Wazir Mohammad Wazir Mohammad (born 22 December 1929) is a former Pakistani cricketer and banker who played in 20 Test matches for Pakistan national cricket team between 1952 and 1959. Wazir was a determined middle-order batsman with a strong defence. His h ...

. In their eight first-class matches they had innings victories over

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

and

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, lost to

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

and

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, and drew the other four. Faqir Aizazuddin made the highest first-class score, 187 against Cambridge University, and

Mushtaq Mohammad Mushtaq Mohammad PP (Urdu: مشتاق محمد‎; born 22 November 1943) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer who played in 57 Tests and 10 ODIs from 1959 to 1979. A right-handed batsman and a leg-spinner, he is one of the mos ...

hit two centuries and made most runs, 593 at an average of 53.90.

Mohammad Munaf Mohammed Munaf ( ar, محمد مناف, full name Mohammad Munaf Mohammad al-Amin, born November 29, 1952) is an Iraqi–American terrorist convicted in 2008 for his role in the March 2005 kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq. He wa ...

had the best bowling figures of 8 for 84 against Kent, but the highest overall wicket tally was shared by Asif Iqbal, 19 at 14.73, and

Intikhab Alam Intikhab Alam Khan (Urdu:) (born 28 December 1941) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer who played in 47 Test matches and four One Day Internationals from 1959 to 1977. He captained Pakistan in 17 Tests between 1969 and 1975. He a ...

, 19 at 23.15. Of the 18 players on the tour, 14 played Test cricket. Four (Intikhab Alam, Majid Khan, Asif Iqbal and Mushtaq Mohammad) went on to captain the Test team.

References

{{reflist

External links

Lists of Matches played by Pakistan Eaglets at CricketArchive
Former senior cricket clubs of Pakistan Pakistani first-class cricket teams