Afaq Hussain

Wisden Obituary
Afaq Hussain died in Karachi on February 25, 2002, aged 62. A glance at his firstclass record suggests that this quickish off-spinner might have played more than two Tests. In 67 games between 1957-58 and 1973-74, he took ten wickets in a match five times. However, competition was fierce among the twirly merchants at a time when Pakistan's faster bowlers were beginning to carry an equal share of the workload. In England in 1962 Afaq went weeks without a game, playing six first-class matches out of 29 and taking only 13 wickets at 43.61, and in Australia and New Zealand in 1964- 65 he played only five games out of 14 - though one was the Test at Melbourne, where he failed to take a wicket. In fact, his only Test victim was Ted Dexter in 1961-62, out hit wicket at Lahore in his first Test as England captain. Afaq had won his Test place with six for 89 for the Governor's XI against MCC on a mud-caked pitch, bare of grass, at Lyallpur. He could bat, too, as he showed with 33 not out in the Lahore Test. In the next season's Quaid-e-Azam final, going in at No. 11 for Karachi A against Karachi B, he made 87 and put on the first three-figure stand for the last wicket in Pakistan with Wallis Mathias. Afaq toured England again in 1963 with the PIAsponsored Pakistan Eaglets and played most of his later first-class cricket for PIA. In all, he took 214 wickets at 19.42, including best figures of eight for 108 for Karachi University against Railways-Quetta in 1960-61, and scored 1,448 runs at 24.54. His one century was 122 not out in 1969-70 for PIA against Lahore Blues at the Bagh-e- Jinnah in Lahore. He held 52 catches.

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2003