When did Pakistan win their first Test in England?
In the 1952-53 season, Pakistan played their first-ever international Test series. It was a 6-match series against India which they ended up losing. Though, they stunned everyone in the second Test by registering an innings victory over India for their maiden Test victory.
Pakistan’s first overseas assignment in whites turned out to be the 1954 tour of England where they were scheduled to play four Tests. It was on this day, August 17, that they registered their maiden Test win in England.
The first Test at Lord’s turned out to be a bizarre one. The match began in the final session of 4th day’s play after three consecutive washed out days – a typical English thing to happen.
A fumbled beginning
Come to the second Test at Trent Bridge, Pakistan’s bowling stumbled against the star-studded English batting line-up. Denis Compton smashed an attacking 278 off just 316 deliveries. It helped England post 558/6 and win the match by an innings margin. Another match in this series saw three days of complete wash-out; this time at the Old Trafford. England had Pakistan bowled out for 90 and four wickets down for 25 after posting 359/8 in the first innings.
The rain came as a blessing in disguise for Pakistan who were at the brink of a loss. The last two days of the Manchester Test were called off without play and it ended in a draw. Pakistan needed to win the final Test at The Oval to stop England from winning the series. Electing to bat first, the visitors were reduced to 51/7 before they crawled to 133. The second day was washed out due to rain but Pakistan team came back strongly on the 3rd day.
From 92/5, England were bundled out on 130 by the Pakistani bowlers. Compton scored 53 for England but Fazal Mahmood’s 6-for had the bigger impact. Left-arm spinner Johnny Wardle ran through the Pakistan line-up in the second innings with a 7-wicket haul. Pakistan were 82/8 at one stage but could reach a decent total of 164 thanks to a 58-run partnership for the 9th wicket between Wazir Mohammad (42*) and Zulfiqar Ahmed (34).
The turnaround!
England’s chase of a 168-run target to win the series seemed to be on track as they crossed the 100-run mark losing only two wickets. Their No.3 batsman, Peter May struck seven boundaries during his 53-run knock spread across 98 minutes. A little after 6 PM local time on the 4th day, Pakistan found some success when they got the big wicket of May. In a space of 25 minutes leading up to stumps, the visiting team claimed four wickets to leave England reeling at 125/6.
Four of the six wickets to fall were claimed by Fazal Mahmood alone to complete a 10-wicket match haul. Fazal picked up the wickets of Frank Tyson and Wardle to replicate his first-innings effort. Peter Loader was dismissed off Mahmood Hussain leading England at 138/9. The last pair was left to chase 30 runs but Jim McConnon getting runout at the score of 143 handed Pakistan’s maiden Test win over England in England.
