The Third Pakistan Tour of the United Kingdom 1967

Martin Chandler | 8:23am GMT 01 February 2026

Published: 2026
Pages: 48
Author: Battersby, David
Publisher: Private
Rating: 4 stars

I celebrated my seventh birthday just before Pakistan’s series in England in 1967 began, so I was very young. I do however have one abiding memory of it, although sadly that isn’t of watching Asif Iqbal’s superb innings at the Oval. It may be that I did see that, as the Test was during the school holidays, but if I did the memory is long gone.

The episode I remember is from the first Test is not directly concerned with events on the pitch. There must have been something about the Pakistan opening bowler Salim Altaf that caught my attention. It may be that he had a striking bowling action, but is likely something rather more prosaic. Recalling what I was like at that age it was just as likely something in his name.

So I asked my Dad about Salim and, to my surprise, he could tell me nothing. I persisted, and he even went to try and find something in Wisden, but he had to admit he was beaten. There was of course no internet in those days, so my father’s wisdom was all I had to learn about cricket from, and it was the first time he had ever let me down.

It must have been a significant moment for my Dad too, as next day when he came home from work he had with him a copy of the Rothmans handbook for the series and, before he let me loose on it myself, proudly read out the potted biography of Salim.

And with that I was satisfied. Over the next sixty years I have come across Salim’s name on occasion, but he has never piqued my curiosity again like he did in 1967, or at least he hadn’t until this one, David Battersby’s 25th cricketing monograph, dropped through my letterbox. With the first seventy of the signed limited edition of one hundred copies there is a photograph signed by Salim and, taking up the last eight pages, a long interview with the man himself.

The first forty pages are an account of the tour. The coverage of the three Tests is, understandably, more extensive but each of the 22 matches, including those which were not First Class, are described. Pakistan lost the series 2-0, but the two most memorable individual contributions were Hanif Mohammad’s unbeaten nine hour 187 at Lord’s and, after supporting his captain well at Lord’s, Asif’s masterpiece at the Oval.

There is an impressive array of photographs in the monograph and, at the close of the tour account, some interesting insights taken from Hanif’s 1999 autobiography. And then there is that fascinating interview with Salim. My only slight disappointment is that the interview is a little too short, as I would love to know what became of the fledgling legal career that Salim talked about in the context of the 1967 series.

There was only one full account of the 1967 tour published at the time, by the Pakistani writer Qamaruddin Butt. Published in Pakistan The Oval Memories has never been easy to find and is very much one for the collector, as of course is this, but at £13 a copy inclusive of UK postage and packing it is much easier on the bank balance than the Butt, and also has the benefit of almost 60 years of hindsight.