As England meet India in the first Test of the four-match series here, Lord’s — the home of cricket — reaches yet another landmark that of staging the 2000th Test of the game’s history which by coincidence also happens to be the hundredth traditional five-day contest between England and India.
It was in 1932 that India played their inaugural Test here at this venue, losing the match by 158 runs. The Indian team then besides their captain C.K. Nyadu had Jahangir Khan, Mohammad Nissar and brothers Wazir Ali and Nazir Ali and a man from Karachi Hindu Gymkhana Naoomal Jeeomal who made 33 as an opener and Wazir contributed 31 and 39.
Though in the losing cause the giant fast bowler Nissar who rattled men like Leslie Ames and Douglas Jardine and Eddie Paynter by taking five wickets for 93, Jahangir was no less effective when he claimed four for 60 in the second innings.
Since then India have played 14 more Tests at Lord’s, winning only in 1986 and ten Test defeats at the prime venue does not speak much of their outing here.
What really is most interesting is the fact that their record-breaking batting genius Sachin Tendulkar is on the verge of reaching his one hundred centuries in international cricket. Would he do that in this landmark Test is the question because he averages a mere 21.28 at Lord’s and his highest score here is only 37.
Whereas Saurav Ganguly and even Ajit Agarkar have scored a century each here in Tests, run-making machines like Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid have failed. Fascinating however is the performance of ‘The Colonel’ Dilip Vengsarkar who remains the only batsman to have scored three Test hundreds at the venue. Not forgetting of course the first great Indian all-rounder Vinoo Mankad who in the 1952 Test made 72 and 184 at this venue.
Great feats and unforgettable deeds are all recorded for posterity and thousands of pages are required to describe all.
Therefore, I shall restrict myself to some of the things I watched and reported from Lord’s.
What I am proud of the fact is that I remain the only media man in the press box to have also covered the 1000th Test and at no other place than on my own home ground at the Niaz Stadium Hyderabad in 1984-85 against New Zealand where Pakistan won the Test by seven wickets. In this match, Javed Miandad scored a hundred in each innings besides a century each by John Reid and Mudassar Nazar and Abdul Qadir, Iqbal Qasim and Stephen Boock excelled with the ball with 5-108, 5-78 and 7-87 respectively. And where Jeremy Coney, the captain showed his displeasure on umpiring decisions.
Astonishing, isn’t it, that in the first 107 years of Test cricket 1000 matches were played and the next 1000 — with the 2000th Test starting today — in just nearly 27 years.
At Lord’s I made my Test debut as a full-time reporter in the 1974 England-Pakistan game, a Test which had to be abandoned as a draw after complaints by the Pakistan team manager Omar Kureishi about the wet pitch on which the match should never have been resumed after rain.
I also watched Pakistan’s first win at Lord’s under Imran Khan in 1982, a match in which Mohsin Khan made a memorable double century and Mudassar bamboozled England batting with 6-32.
Gavaskar’s 188, and century each by Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting in MCC’s bicentenary match in 1987 still remain etched.
In my mind as does a masterly 187 not out by Hanif Mohammad in 1967 which I watched as a spectator. Not forgetting other feats that of Mohammad Yousuf scoring a double century in 2006 and Australian Bob Massie’s 16 wickets in the 1972 Ashes Test.
And how can I forget the great run chase here at Lord’s by legendary Gordon Greenidge when he made a double century in quest of over 300 runs target in 1984. Nor would I ever erase the memory from my mind of Graham Gooch’s 333 against India in 1990, the only triple century in Tests at Lord’s 123 matches and Mohammad Azharuddin’s 121 in the same match.
And then of course Kapil Dev hitting four successive sixes off Eddie Hemmings to save India’s follow-on when 24 runs were needed to avoid it in the same match.
The Test at Lord’s starting on Thursday will be fifth at the venue for Sachin Tendulkar, and most probably his last
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