LONDON (Ali Zain) – Pakistani skipper Misbah-ul-Haq on Thursday became first Pakistani batsman to register his name on the Lord’s honours boards in last ten years by scoring 110 runs off 179 balls (innings underway).
The 42-year-old skipper also became the oldest cricketer to score a Test century in last 82 years.
The Lord’s, the stadium which is considered the home of cricket, maintains special honour boards for the cricketers who score a century or take five wickets in an innings or ten wickets in a Test match.
These boards, in the ‘home’ and ‘away’ dressing rooms, provide a permanent reminder of the best batting and bowling performances in the long history of the Lord’s.
So far, as many as 235 cricketers including seven Pakistanis have hammered centuries at the stadium in Test format. On Thursday Misbah-ul-Haq became the latest addition to the board scoring his career’s tenth century at the stadium.
Hanif Mohammad, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohsin Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Javed Burki and Nasim-ul-Ghani are other Pakistanis to have their names on the honour boards as Test cricketers. None Pakistani player has ever scored a century at the Lord’s in ODI or T20 format.
On the bowlers’ side, five Pakistanis: Intikhab Alam, Mudassar Nazar, Waqar Younis, Mushtaq Ahmed and Mohammad Amir are named on the board for picking five or more wickets in the stadium.
Mohammad Amir, who is marking his return to Test cricket after a five-year ban for spot-fixing in the ongoing Pakistan vs England match at the Lord’s, had booked a slot on the honour board for picking 6 wickets for 84 runs in 2010. He and two other Pakistan players, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, were accused of spot-fixing in the same Test series.
In June this year, Amir, before leaving for England tour, extended his wish to again register his name to the honour boards in the Lord’s.
“My focus is currently on the opening Test in the Lord’s, where I have my name on the honour board because of a five-wicket haul and I want my name written there again to restore my personality and honour after the 2010 incident,” he said.
“I can earn back the respect and praise of everyone in England and the world through my performances and I want to make it a memorable experience and this is where Amir will be reborn,” he went on to say.
It is also pertinent to be mentioned here that Sir Ian Botham holds the honour of appearing on the collective Honours Boards to most often: nine times as a bowler (for eight five-wicket hauls; two of which ensured he appears on the 10 wicket board too) and once as a batsman scoring 100 runs or more.
Some other great names from the boards include Andrew Flintoff, Sir Viv Richards, Keith Miller, Garry Sobers, Bishen Bedi, Graham Gooch, Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick.
On the other hand, some great cricketers such as Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne could never managed to get their names engraved on the honour boards.
