Wasim Hasan Raja ( Punjabi, ur, ) (3 July 1952 – 23 August 2006) was a

British Pakistani British Pakistanis ( ur, (Bratānia men maqīm pākstānī); also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are British people, citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes ...

schoolteacher, match referee, cricket coach and

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 57 Test matches and 54

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s for the

Pakistani national cricket team The Pakistan national cricket team or Pak cricket team, often referred to as the Shaheens (), Green Shirts, Men in Green and Cornered Tigers is administered by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The team is a Full Member of the International C ...

from 1973 to 1985. His younger brother,

Ramiz Raja Ramiz Hasan Raja ( ur, ; born 14 August 1962) is a Pakistani cricket administrator, commentator, YouTuber, and former cricketer who served as the 35th Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board between September 2021 and December 2022. As a pla ...

, also represented Pakistan in Tests and ODIs, becoming captain of the national side. Another brother,

Zaeem Raja Zaeem Hasan Raja ( Punjabi, ur, ) (born 24 October 1956 in Lahore) is a former Pakistani cricketer who played for Service Industries, Lahore, Bahawalpur and Multan. His brothers, Wasim Raja and Rameez Raja played for Pakistan while his father, ...

, also 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 officiall ...

, as did his father,

Saleem Akhtar Raja Saleem Akhtar ( Punjabi, Urdu: ) (8 September 1930 – 22 April 2004) was a former Pakistani cricketer who played for Multan and Sargodha. Hi ...

Early and personal life

Wasim Raja was born in

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the List ...

in the

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 ...

. His father was a high-ranking civil servant. Raja obtained a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in political science from

Government College, Lahore The Government College University, Lahore (colloquially known as GCU), is a public research university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Opened as Government College, Lahore, in 1864, it became a university in 2002. Overview In 1864, Go ...

. He was captain of the Pakistan Under-19 side. He settled in London after marrying an Englishwoman, Ann. He studied for a certificate in education from

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

, and he had a spell teaching geography, mathematics and physical education at Caterham School in Surrey. He was also a coach for the Pakistan Under-19 team, and he was an

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

match referee in 15 Tests and 34 ODIs from 2002 to 2004. He died of a heart attack in

Marlow, Buckinghamshire Marlow (; historically Great Marlow or Chipping Marlow) is a town and civil parish within the Unitary Authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It is located on the River Thames, south-southwest of High Wycombe, west-northwest of Maidenhead and ...

, England, in August 2006 while playing cricket for the Surrey over-50s side. He is survived by his wife and his sons, Ali and Ahmad.

Career

During his playing career, Raja was known primarily as a dashing middle-order left-handed batsman, with a characteristically generous backlift and breathtaking stokeplay combining a keen eye with wristy execution. Raja also bowled flat

wrist spin Wrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball. The other spinning technique, usually used t ...

with his right hand that was good enough to take 51 wickets in Tests, with his scalps including

Clive Lloyd Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd (born 31 August 1944) is a Guyanese-British former cricketer who played for the West Indies cricket team. As a boy he went to Chatham High School in Georgetown. At the age of 14 he was captain of his school cricket team ...

Roy Fredericks Roy Clifton Fredericks (11 November 1942 – 5 September 2000) was a West Indian cricketer who played Test cricket from 1968 to 1977. He was an opening batsman for the West Indies in both Test cricket and one day cricket, and made 4334 Test run ...

Glenn Turner Glenn Maitland Turner (born 26 May 1947) played cricket for New Zealand and was one of the country's best and most prolific batsmen. He is the current head of the New Zealand Cricket selection panel. Early life Glenn Turner was born in Dun ...

and

Viv Richards Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is an Antiguan retired cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Batting generally at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely ...

. In all, he played in 250 first-class matches, scoring 11,434 runs at an average of 35.18, including 17 centuries, and taking 558 wickets at an average of 29.05. His finest hour in Test cricket was the tour to the West Indies in 1976–77, when he topped the Pakistani

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

s with 517 runs at 57.4 and came second in the

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

s with 7 wickets at 18.7, behind Majid Khan. He also scored 14 sixes in the Test series, setting a record that has been equalled 4 times but still remains the only instance away from hom

He top-scored in both innings of the draw
1st Test
in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

, to push West Indies to within one wicket of their first loss at

Kensington Oval The Kensington Oval is a stadium located to the west of the capital city Bridgetown on the island of Barbados. It is the pre-eminent sporting facility on the island and is primarily used for cricket. it has hosted many important and exciting ...

since 1935. In their second innings, Pakistan were reduced to 158–9 by Andy Roberts and

Colin Croft Colin Everton Hunte Croft (born 15 March 1953) is a former West Indian international cricketer. Cricket career Croft was (along with Andy Roberts, Michael Holding and Joel Garner) part of the potent West Indian quartet of fast bowlers from ...

, a lead of only 144 just over halfway through the fourth day, but a last-wicket stand of 133 with

Wasim Bari Wasim Bari ( ur, ; born 23 March 1948) is a former Pakistani international cricketer who played in 81 Test matches and 51 One Day Internationals from 1967 to 1984. Bari was a wicket-keeper and right-handed batsman. At the end of his 17-year c ...

set the West Indies a target of 306. At the close of the fifth day, West Indies were 55 runs adrift, on 251–9. West Indies won their next 12 matches at Bridgetown, until they were finally beaten by England in th
4th Test
in 1994. He was a cricket teacher at Haslemere Preparatory School from 2004 to 2006. There is a memorial plaque there in his honour. He is also remembered in the northeast of England, playing for Durham CCC, before the county was awarded first-class status.

Book

With Adam Licudi, ''Cornered Tigers: History of Pakistan’s Test Cricket from Abdul Kardar to Wasim Akram'', 1997, 300 p.

Early and personal life

Career

Book

See also

References

See also