Afzal Ahmed is one of the most revered members of the small fraternity of serious collectors of cricket books and memorabilia in Pakistan. In his own words cricket has not only been his lifelong companion but also the lens through which he has seen the world. Over the years he has accumulated one of the most comprehensive collections of Pakistan related cricketing literature and memorabilia to adorn any home. Now retired from a long career in banking, he has used the time at his disposal to compile a unique tome displaying the rich tapestry of his gathering.
For the collector, the historian, and the fervent fan, the history of Pakistan cricket has long existed as a fragmented jigsaw puzzle, with pieces scattered across auction catalogues, private collections, and general historical texts. Afzal Ahmed’s book, Pakistan Cricket Chronicles, finally brings these pieces together in a single, monumental volume, transforming a scattered archive into the definitive, annotated chronicle of the national team’s tangible history. This book is, quite simply, the essential reference for anyone tracing the nation’s tumultuous and brilliant cricketing journey.
The book follows an organized pattern, chronologically charting Pakistan’s cricketing progress from the 1948-49 season to that of 2023-24. Each chapter begins with a new season’s summary, which is vividly supplemented by a selection of carefully curated photographs. Next, a collection of souvenirs, brochures, tour programmes and similar memorabilia provides a viewable, visual connection to events on the field, concluding with images and titles of all the books on Pakistan cricket that were locally or internationally published that season. This consistent format makes it easy for readers to seamlessly navigate their way through the vast inventory of publications that the book identifies.
This compendium is structured not merely as a series of lists, but as an intellectual map of cricket’s evolution in Pakistan. It meticulously presents primary source material, solving the long-standing problem of scattered provenance. The opening chapters are a treasure trove for early-era literature, including illustrations of the very first souvenir as well as the first ever book on cricket to be published in Pakistan. These publications, documenting the 1948-49 season, which was the first to feature international cricket in the new nation, anchor the sport’s history directly to the national narrative. Another memorable reproduction from this inaugural year is a wonderful group photograph of the first Pakistani cricket team to tour abroad, when they visited Ceylon in March 1949 for two unofficial Tests.
The souvenir for Pakistan’s first official Test match, against India at Delhi in 1952, the unusual, one-off post-tour souvenir published by the BCCP to mark the national team’s return from their successful tour of England in 1954 and the souvenir for Pakistan’s first Test on home soil, played at Dhaka in January 1955 are all displayed in their relevant seasons. The inauguration souvenir for the National Stadium Karachi in 1955 and the first Urdu publication on Pakistan cricket, an autobiography by Fazal Mahmood printed in 1956, are other rare treasures in the early part of the book.
Going through the pages of Pakistan Cricket Chronicles is akin to a voyage of discovery. Hidden gems regularly come into view. Both issues of Omar Kureishi’s annual The Pakistan Cricketer published in 1957 and 1958 are shown here. Another tasty morsel is the souvenir detailing the playing program of our cricket team’s first international tour of the USA, which took place on the return leg of their Caribbean journey from the five-Test series against the West Indies in 1957-58. Then there is the original score sheet of Majid Khan’s century before lunch against New Zealand at Karachi in 1976. Signed by Majid himself, this illustration has been nominated as the tome’s piece de resistance by Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in their foreword for the book. No less compelling is the nostalgic souvenir of the last international match played by Pakistan’s national team in what was once East Pakistan. This match, against an international eleven, at Dhaka in February 1971, ended prematurely when play was abandoned on the final afternoon because riots broke out in the crowd.
Selecting just a few special items from over 1000 illustrations spread over 456 pages is a perilous and forbidding task. Intikhab Alam’s handwritten team batting order for the Lord’s Test of Pakistan’s 1974 tour, scribbled on an official Lords Cricket Ground letterhead, demands attention. There is a special place, too, for a rare first-edition book titled A History of the Sind Cricket Tournament and Karachi Cricket in General by C B Rubie and B D Shankar, printed in 1928. The Rubie Shield, a prominent inter-school cricket tournament of Karachi in the 1950s, in which school-going Hanif Mohammad first scored a triple century, was named after this author.
It is no surprise that Pakistan Cricket Chronicles contains illustrations of all the ten books written by Pakistan’s most prolific cricket scribe Qamaruddin Butt, the six cricket and autobiographical books penned by Abdul Hafeez Kardar and the four each authored by Syed M H Maqsood and Khadim Hussain Baloch.
Sultan F Hussain’s monthly magazine Sportimes made its first appearance in January 1956 and became the definitive sports periodical of the country for over a quarter of a century. Not only does Sportimes repeatedly find a place of display as we journey through Pakistan Cricket Chronicles, the author has also given this magazine an additional special portion of its own in the latter pages of his book. Similar space is also provided to Qamar Ahmed’s Pakistan Book of Cricket, an annual that he produced for over a decade. Other annuals featured in Pakistan Cricket Chronicles are the Pakistan Cricket Year Book, which enjoyed a twelve year life from 1980-81 to 1993-94, and the BCCP/PCB Cricket Annual which had a similarly short lifespan from 1990-91 to 2003-04. Afzal Ahmed’s remarkable collection also includes the seventeen Wills Cup/Wills Cricket Annuals published from 1981 to 1997-98.
There is a wonderful section in the book showcasing the 34 official brochures that were printed as part of the various tournaments played in Sharjah in connection with the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) from 1981 to 2003. There is also a second collection of 33 other brochures from random testimonial matches played both in Pakistan and abroad in honour of 27 Pakistani cricketers and 6 renowned cricket organizers.
This book is one that every cricket lover will savour and relish. The one additional piece that would have made it complete and perfect would have been an inclusion of the Justice Qayyum report. Though technically the report is neither a book nor a brochure or souvenir and hence may not strictly qualify as cricketing literature, yet it is a document that is intertwined with our cricketing narrative. Its relevance is that it explores the dark side of our cricketing story and attempts to answer the allegations leveled at it. The author may feel that these issues have already been discussed and addressed in other texts that are catalogued in this book like Peter Oborne’s Wounded Tiger or Osman Samiuddin’s The Unquiet Ones and hence there was no need to include the report itself.
What makes this scholarly catalogue a collector’s essential is the sheer quality and depth of its illustrations. In addition to a vast array of souvenirs and brochures the book is also richly peppered with stunning photographs, signed by players. Besides providing aesthetic pleasure, these illustrations serve as an ultimate authentication guide providing photographic evidence for the sources from which much of our national cricketing data and folklore is derived.
However, Pakistan Cricket Chronicles is much more than a book about collecting alone. It is, above all else, a testament of the author’s passion for the game and the country he loves, a meticulously researched history that in its distinct and unique way provides an essential scaffolding for Pakistan’s famously turbulent, yet poorly documented, cricketing legacy.
Perceptive historians have often noted how the mercurial nature of the nation itself is mirrored perfectly in the brilliance and occasional chaos of its cricket team. The sudden batting collapses followed by moments of impossible genius are a direct expression of the national psyche: passionate, talented, and perpetually on the brink.
– The book is available in Pakistan from the author Afzal Ahmed.
Email: afzalsirdonhotmail.com
The book is also available in the UK and in Dubai.
Dr Salman Faridi is a senior surgeon, poet, sports aficionado and an avid reader with a private collection of over 7000 books.salmanfaridilnhhotmail.com