Obituary: Abdul Hafeez Kardar

Abdul Hafeez Kardar was a brave, determined and con-troversial cricketer and ad- ministrator who, his critics notwithstanding, will be remembered as the father figure of Pakistan cricket.

Playing first for India, he carried the game over the great divide of Partition in 1947, led Pakistan in their first 23 Tests, and spent the remainder of his career in the game ensuring that no one took his nation's name lightly. He suffered fools not gladly and took on opponents, on and off the field, head to head.

Born in Lahore of a cricketing family, Kardar first appeared in England in 1946 as a tall, attacking left-handed batsman, wristy, who timed his shots well. He bowled his slow left-arm spin or slow medium accurately.

He played three Tests for India on that tour, stayed in England, went up to Oxford where he won a Blue in each of the next three years, took 124 wickets and occasionally surprised visiting professional bowlers by giving them the charge.

It was in the Parks that he supposedly began a press-box legend. A young reporter, seeking a Cardus-like allusion, wrote that Kardar "batted like an Eastern mystic". Either his copy-typist misheard him, or his sub-editor would have none of it, but Kardar appeared in print the next day as batting "like an Eastern mistake". Humble retractions and damages were said to have followed.

Kardar also spent two seasons with Warwickshire, when term ended, and married (his first wife) the daughter of the club chairman Cyril Hastilow. Going home, he first led Pakistan against an MCC team in 1951, and in a sense began his political career by campaigning for full Test status for his country, a recognition granted in July 1952.

His first major triumph came in the tour of England in 1954, where at the Oval he was top scorer with 36 out of 133 and led Pakistan to their first victory over England. He was to follow that by taking Pakistan to their first win over Australia, in Karachi, over India, in Lucknow, New Zealand, in Karachi, and West Indies, in Port of Spain.

In 1956 he reacted furiously to a schooolboy jape by touring MCC players, that brought a dowsing for a Pakistani umpire in Peshawar, and led to a classic Daily Mirror headline in London: "Alexander's Rag Team Banned". Field Marshal Lord Alexander was then president of MCC.

Kardar's last tour was in 1957 to the West Indies, where he elected to play despite having a broken finger, defying medical advice, bowled 37 overs and scored 57.

Retired, he soon became a leading figure in the Pakistan Board of Control (President from 1972 to 1977) and set another cat among the pigeons by demanding that the headquarters of international cricket be moved from Lord's to Lahore.

His strong personality brought clashes with the Pakistan captains who succeeded him, among them Asif Iqbal, Majid Khan and Imran Khan; he constantly spoke out on such issues as players' wages, sponsorship, "biased" English umpires, and what he regarded as the preparation of English Test pitches to suit home bowlers.

He also entered politics as a member of the Punjab Provincial Assembly, becoming Minister of Food, supporting the Bhutto party and fighting fiercely against what he considered to be political interference in the administration of cricket. One critic wrote, "He was never one to cloud an issue with goodwill if it could be avoided".

Yet Imran Khan, with whom he quarrelled over players' remuneration, said of him: "After his retirement in 1977, Pakistani cricket was thrown to the wolves, the cricket bureaucrats whose progeny still rule the game."

Kardar's last appointment was as Pakistan's ambassador to Switzerland, fortunately a non-Test-playing country, and he was watching the recent World Cup tournament on television in London when he suffered the collapse that led to his death. He scored almost 7,000 runs, at an average of 29 and took 344 wickets at 24, with 108 catches, but such figures are peripheral in the memory of one of cricket's outstanding and memorable characters.

Abdul Hafeez Kardar, cricketer: born Lahore 17 January 1925; twice married (three children); died Lahore 21 April 1996.