Peshawar Club Ground

The Peshawar Club Ground is a cricket ground in Peshawar, Pakistan, used for one Test match between India and Pakistan. It staged first class cricket matches from 1938 to 1987.

History of matches

The history of first class cricket at the Peshawar Club Ground began with the North West Frontier Province in the Indian Ranji Trophy. With the separation of Pakistan in 1949, the NWFP team was admitted into the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, and again played at Peshawar until they were replaced in the Trophy by a Peshawar city team in 1956. Before that, Pakistan had entertained India for the only Test match to be played here. In a drawn four-day encounter, Polly Umrigar hit a century for India before he was run out. The following year, New Zealand played a Governor-General of Pakistan's XI here, while a full-strength Pakistan side beat a non-Test touring team from Marylebone Cricket Club. For Quaid-e-Azam Trophy matches, the Peshawar team switched between this ground and the Peshawar Gymkhana Ground until 1971. In 1957, Peshawar off spinner Haseeb Ahsan achieved the best figures on the ground with thirteen for 47 in a match against Punjab B.

Touring teams occasionally visited the ground, though no more Test matches were played. In 1967, an MCC U-25 side played a Pakistan North Zone team, a match which is notable for Mike Brearley's highest first class score. The visitors' captain made 312 not out in a day as MCC piled up 514 for four against opposition including the later Test captain Intikhab Alam, declared, then won by an innings and 139 runs on the third day. He shared double century stands with Alan Knott and Alan Ormrod (records for the first and fifth wickets at the ground), and his innings remains the highest on the ground, despite Zakir Butt's 290 for Pakistan Railways six years later.

Matches by touring teams became more common in the 1970s, with England, India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka (then not a Test nation) all playing a team at this ground. Most matches were drawn, though England won by the use of two declarations, while New Zealand lost against a team with nine players who would appear in the Test series against them. An International XI captained by Vanburn Holder also beat a near full-strength Pakistan here in 1976, though the match did not have international status.

By November 1984, the new Arbab Niaz Stadium in Pakistan was ready, and the Club Ground was disused. It hosted Peshawar for the last time in their 1986–87 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy campaign, where they played eight home matches, and since then the Arbab Niaz has taken over as Peshawar's international and first class ground of choice.

References

* [http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Grounds/22/1533_f.html First-Class Matches played on Peshawar Club Ground (62)]
* [http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Grounds/22/1533_a.html List A Matches played on Peshawar Club Ground (5)]