• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Historical footage: Impressions of some greats

watson

Banned
Looked rather sharper than I imagined him to be and a classic sideways on action - little wonder he has such a good record
It's difficult to judge a bowler's action and pace after only two deliveries of course. However, the footage is just about good enough to say that I happen to agree with you Fred.

My initial impression of Cowie was a surprised "wow".
 

watson

Banned
After a bit of detective work I think that I've found Fazal Mahmood in action!
Unfortunately the footage has no sound so there is no commentator to tell you who is bowling.

However, the footage shows a right arm medium-fast bowler bowling a couple of overs to Sobers and Hunte (?) during day 5 of the West Indies V Pakistan Test, Sabina Park 1958.

The scorecard shows that the Pakistan bowlers were;

Fazal Mahmood (right-arm medium fast)
SF Rehman (leg-break)
Nasim ul Ghani (left-arm medium)
Haseeb Ahsan (off-break)
Abdul Kardar (left-arm orthodox)

4th Test: West Indies v Pakistan at Georgetown, Mar 13-19, 1958 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

Therefore, Fazal Mahmood must be the bowler in action by exclusion. The quality of the film is quite good, so definitely worth a look.



WEST INDIES CRICKET RECORD BY SOBERS - NO SOUND | AP Archive
 
Last edited:

OverratedSanity

Request Your Custom Title Now!
After a bit of detective work I think that I've found Fazal Mahmood in action!
Unfortunately the footage has no sound so there is no commentator to tell you who is bowling.

However, the footage shows a right arm medium-fast bowler bowling a couple of overs to Sobers and Hunte (?) during day 5 of the West Indies V Pakistan Test, Sabina Park 1958.

The scorecard shows that the Pakistan bowlers were;

Fazal Mahmood (right-arm medium fast)
SF Rehman (leg-break)
Nasim ul Ghani (left-arm medium)
Haseeb Ahsan (off-break)
Abdul Kardar (left-arm orthodox)

4th Test: West Indies v Pakistan at Georgetown, Mar 13-19, 1958 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

Therefore, Fazal Mahmood must be the bowler in action by exclusion. The quality of the film is quite good, so definitely worth a look.



WEST INDIES CRICKET RECORD BY SOBERS - NO SOUND | AP Archive
Awesome.

Could you try and dig up footage of Khan Mohammad? Averaged 23 and formed a potent new ball pairing with Fazal.
 

smash84

The Tiger King
After a bit of detective work I think that I've found Fazal Mahmood in action!
Unfortunately the footage has no sound so there is no commentator to tell you who is bowling.

However, the footage shows a right arm medium-fast bowler bowling a couple of overs to Sobers and Hunte (?) during day 5 of the West Indies V Pakistan Test, Sabina Park 1958.

The scorecard shows that the Pakistan bowlers were;

Fazal Mahmood (right-arm medium fast)
SF Rehman (leg-break)
Nasim ul Ghani (left-arm medium)
Haseeb Ahsan (off-break)
Abdul Kardar (left-arm orthodox)

4th Test: West Indies v Pakistan at Georgetown, Mar 13-19, 1958 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

Therefore, Fazal Mahmood must be the bowler in action by exclusion. The quality of the film is quite good, so definitely worth a look.



WEST INDIES CRICKET RECORD BY SOBERS - NO SOUND | AP Archive
Thanks for this watson. Fazal was such a gun. He was the Imran before Imran. Quite the heart throb of that era and such a gentleman as well.
 

OverratedSanity

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Actually,I just noticed something. The bowler in the beginning of that clip definitely isn't Fazal. The guy who bowls with that slow leg-cutterish action after around 1:30 of the clip is. I'm 100% positive. I have some tapes of Sobers' old innings, and I'm sure that's him. Had an ungainly sort of action and was more medium pace than quick.

And looking at this photo of his, it matches up with that footage after 1:30 pretty accurately.



Have no idea who the quicker looking bowler is though.
 

harsh.ag

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Actually,I just noticed something. The bowler in the beginning of that clip definitely isn't Fazal. The guy who bowls with that slow leg-cutterish action after around 1:30 of the clip is. I'm 100% positive. I have some tapes of Sobers' old innings, and I'm sure that's him. Had an ungainly sort of action and was more medium pace than quick.

And looking at this photo of his, it matches up with that footage after 1:30 pretty accurately.



Have no idea who the quicker looking bowler is though.
It has to be Fazal though, doesn't it? Who else could it be? The guy at 1:30 onwards could be SF Rehman I guess.

Because watson has the correct test match and the correct day.
 

OverratedSanity

Request Your Custom Title Now!
It has to be Fazal though, doesn't it? Who else could it be? The guy at 1:30 onwards could be SF Rehman I guess.

Because watson has the correct test match and the correct day.
I'm 99% sure that the guy at 1:30 is Fazal. Anyway, just look at that photo, it's identical to his action in the video.
 

AndyZaltzHair

Hall of Fame Member
A scorecard around 1:34 mark shows Khan Mohammad played the match. I guess the opening burst was from K Mohammad and Fazal appears after
 
Last edited:

OverratedSanity

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Hey what do you, know, the video watson provided was actually this match

3rd Test: West Indies v Pakistan at Kingston, Feb 26-Mar 4, 1958 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

It's the game where Sobers got the 365 to set the new record. The scorecard matches up with the one you can see if you pause the video at 1:34.

So, the first bowler is almost certainly Khan Mohammad, as none of the other bowlers in the scorecard match Khan's description. And the medium-pace-cutter bowler seen a bit later is Fazal.
 

Top