Best Gift...." Garner !!!

Once Joel Garner came to Pakistan and at the end of the Karachi One-Day International, he said this was the best gift I have ever got on a Cricket Field: What was that ?

Was it a 'J'?

I didn't get it. What was it?

What was it? And why was your post edited by OxY?

perhaps it was something of the dirty variety?

Something below the belt it seems.

quite literally perhaps

it was editied because of the G had to be swapped with a *J* and + oxy is an attention seeker

Okay: Actually that was an exciting One-Day Match...

In those days, One-Day Internationals in Pakistan were of 40-Overs each side...

It was a low scoring match with Pakistan making 127/9 in 40-Overs and when last over started, Windies were 124/4 and had almost won the game...

One of the most respected Umpires of that time Khalid Aziz was umpire and Imran bowled that over...

Gordon Greenige, who was unwell came in to bat late and was playing beautifully for 18 at that time...

Imran bowled one of the fastest over one can imagine to see...

First scorching ball came darting back and Alvin Kalicharan got plumb LBWed for 14...

At that time, a ball going down the leg side if within the reach of the batsman was not called Wide...

Malcolm Marshall came in and the first ball to him by Imran Khan was very fast off side the off stump, but Marshall not able to properly see the ball slogged his bat on the leg side: Now the next ball was again very quick and Marshall did not see it: Actually it pitched on the middle and leg and went past Marshall's pads down the leg side: What Marshall did was had a big slash outside the off stump not knowing where the ball was and as he slashed, he started running towards the other end: Greenige sent him back: But it was too late: Wicket-Keeper Taslim Arif ran him out...

In came Garner, 3 Balls 4 runs to win and Imran Khan bowling missles: The first smashing delivery hit Garner on the stomach: No Runs: Greenige went to Garner and said we have to go for the run on the next ball at any cost...

Imran bowled a short ball to Garner and he being 6-Feet 8-Inches: Ball came around chest height: A lethal bouncer: Garner fended at the ball: It hit his gloves and Taslim Arif who took the catch and rest of the players started to dance in joy...

However Garner had started to run towards the other end and Greenige came running to the batting end, since most respected Umpire Khalid Aziz did not give Garner out...

Captain Javed Miandad who was fielding at Mid-Wicket was very upset: He went to Umpire and said it hit his gloves, Umpire said No it did not: Miandad went back to Mid-Wicket and then stopped Imran to bowl: Went back to Umpire and pleaded and even sat down on the ground saying Man It did hit his gloves: Then he went back to Mid-Wicket and as Imran was about to run in, Miandad stopped him again and went to Garner and asked didn't it hit your gloves: Garner just laughed and said Umpires make the decisions...

The worst part was in all this scramble, Umpire Khalid Aziz did not give Bye Indication to the scorer, since if it did not hit the gloves and batsmen ran the score, it should be a Bye Run: But the scorer had no choice then to give 1 run to Garner: It was only when the match was over that Umpires asked the scorer to consider that a Bye run...

Imran Khan lost most of the rythm in all this and his last ball was hit over the head of extra cover by Greenige for three runs and won the match for Windies on the last ball: Sarfraz went after the ball very slowly: Had it been a quicker fielder, Match could have ended in a tie as Greenige should not have got more than two runs of that...

It was indeed a great game of Cricket and that over of Imran Khan if someone can find must be watched: It was awesome...

At the end of the match, when Garner was asked about Umpires' decision, he said this was the best gift I have ever got on a Cricket Field...

Scorecard
ODI # 0093
Pakistan v West Indies, 1980/81, 1st One-day International
National Stadium, Karachi
21 November 1980 (40-overs match)

Result: West Indies won by 4 wickets
West Indies leads the 3-ODI series 1-0

Toss: West Indies
Umpires: Javed Akhtar and Khalid Aziz
ODI Debuts: Mansoor Akhtar, Mohammad Nazir, Taslim Arif (Pak); MR Pydanna (WI).
Man of the Match: IVA Richards

Pakistan innings (40 overs maximum) R B 4 6
+Taslim Arif c Marshall b Croft 4 8 0
Sadiq Mohammad c Holding b Richards 40 79
Mansoor Akhtar b Garner 24 51
*Javed Miandad c Pydanna b Croft 8 15
Wasim Raja c Holding b Richards 2 7 0 0
Majid Khan c Lloyd b Kallicharran 16 31
Mudassar Nazar c & b Holding 4 13 0
Imran Khan c Bacchus b Kallicharran 2 5 0 0
Sarfraz Nawaz run out 8 14
Iqbal Qasim not out 6 11
Mohammad Nazir not out 2 8 0 0
Extras (b 1, lb 5, w 4, nb 1) 11
Total (9 wickets, 40 overs) 127

FoW: 1-5 (Taslim Arif), 2-59 (Mansoor Akhtar),
3-74 (Javed Miandad), 4-81 (Wasim Raja),
5-83 (Sadiq Mohammad), 6-97 (Mudassar Nazar),
7-102 (Imran Khan), 8-114 (Majid Khan),
9-119 (Sarfraz Nawaz).

Bowling O M R W
Holding 5.3 3 5 1
Croft 7 1 17 2
Marshall 8 0 34 0
Garner 8 0 26 1
Richards 8 0 24 2
Kallicharran 3.3 0 10 2

West Indies innings (target: 128 runs from 40 overs) R B 4 6
DL Haynes b Iqbal Qasim 4 17 0
SFAF Bacchus hit wicket b Mudassar Nazar 36 88
IVA Richards st Taslim Arif b Majid Khan 36 48
*CH Lloyd c Sadiq Mohammad b Mudassar Nazar 9 15
AI Kallicharran lbw b Imran Khan 14 37
CG Greenidge not out 21 33
MD Marshall run out 0 2 0 0
J Garner not out 0 2 0 0
Extras (b 2, lb 4, w 1, nb 1) 8
Total (6 wickets, 40 overs) 128

DNB: +MR Pydanna, MA Holding, CEH Croft.

FoW: 1-18 (Haynes), 2-69 (Richards), 3-85 (Lloyd),
4-93 (Bacchus), 5-124 (Kallicharran), 6-124 (Marshall).

Bowling O M R W
Imran Khan 7 3 14 1
Sarfraz Nawaz 6 0 25 0
Iqbal Qasim 8 2 21 1
Mohammad Nazir 8 1 25 0
Mudassar Nazar 4 0 13 2
Majid Khan 7 1 22 1

Great post bhai, enjoyed reading every bit.

POTW for me.

that could have been LEG BYE as well ? and he 4got to give signal to scorer cause of appeal from Pakistani players and captain ?

good post btw and thanks for sharing with us

ilyas bhai as usual your posts are just brilliant to read.....! thanks for sharing the whole scenerio for us younger ones...but im still @ miandad...even though imran was incharge , it was miandad going bananas. just shows his passion for the game and most importantly his country both such legends.what a deputy imran had...i think no one can ever replace the imran/javed combination.

great read.. mianda had no class whatsoever

read again mr 420

i realy think that is true

what javed was captain ? and imran played under him when was that then....

Very insightful post, Ilyas bhai. Thanks for sharing this wonderful incident.

Actually I watched this whole game each and every ball...

This happened when Pakistan went to India and lost badly 2-0 under Asif Iqbal, who then retired and Mushtaq Mohammad was made Captain again: But then Retired Air Marshall Nur Khan was made head of PCB: What he did was made Mushtaq Mohammad Manager and Coach of the team and appointed Javed Miandad as Captain...

All the Seniors had failed in India except for Waseem Raja: So they remained quiet...

Pakistan played Aussies at home and won the series 1-0...

After that came this above series against Windies and Miandad remained Captain...

Then Pakistanis went to Australia and lost test matches 2-1 and did play well in the Triangular One-Day Series against Windies and Aussies, but could not qualify for the Finals: Miandad on return said Seniors like Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas and others did not cooperate with him on the tour...

At that time, Sri Lanka were to come to Pakistan for the first time to play International Test Matches and One-Days...

Miandad was made captain again by Nur Khan: All the seniors revolted against Miandad and did not play in the first two test matches...

In first test, I think four players made their debuts: Saleem Malik, Tahir Naqqash, Rashid Khan and Saleem Yousuf, while two others were playing only their second or third test matches: Pakistan won by 204 runs...

It seemed that was the end of the careers of the Seniors: But in the next game at Faisalabad most ashamedly through the help of some poor home umpiring, Pakistanis managed to scrape a draw and it was clear that without the Seniors, Pakistanis were as bad as the new comers to International Cricket Sri Lanka...

Miandad in the highest interest of Pakistan Cricket compromised to step down as Captain at the end of the series: He however said he will not play under Zaheer Abbas or Majid Khan, but accepted to play under Imran Khan, who used to be his apartment mate while playing County Cricket for Sussex in the Mid 1970s...

So this is how Imran Khan became Captain after Nur Khan helped to reach the compromise between the Seniors and Javed Miandad...

Eventually Miandad and Imran made the retirement of Zaheer Abbas very bitter for Zaheer and Majid Khan was also not played much by Imran Khan: Although he was his younger days hero, mentor and teacher, Majid was not in the team during the First Two Test Matches of Imran Khan as Captain...

Then Imran did not play Majid against India for the first few test matches and suddenly brought him in without Majid being in match practice and Majid went for zero to only end his career...

Majid did not talk with Imran for almost eight to ten years and only talked to him when Imran’s mother died...

So this is the whole story...

wow ilyas bhai...superb.......we are lucky to have you amongst us

some great posts Ilyas... great memory too

Great read again, youve become my fav poster with them few stories

Thanx a many all of you for appreciating the stories of the past...Of and on I will try to take out time to write a few more...

lovely read Ilyas.

I didnt know about the Garner story which I found very interesting indeed.