ENGLAND raced towards the finishing line on an overcast London evening as Peter May and Denis Compton put up a 43-run stand for the second wicket. The hosts required 168 to go 2-0 up in the four-Test series.

As the two made the scoreboard tick, then Pakistan skipper Abdul Hafeez Kardar stood in utter disbelief. The match had been a low-scoring affair. Only two batsmen had reached the fifty-run mark and one of them, May, was present at the crease.

As the Pakistan captain contemplated a bowling change, Fazal Mahmood snatched the ball out of Kardar’s hand and asked him to take position on the off-side.

Fazal soon invoked a miss-hit off the Englishman’s bat that landed into the safe hands of Kardar. What followed next is the reason why the thirtieth day of this month has become so special!

With 59 written in the ‘runs required’ column and as many as 8 wickets in hand, what seemed to be an easy proposition was turned into a disaster for the hosts by Fazal’s extraordinary bowling spells.

He had already bagged eight wickets — six in the first innings and two in the second — but Fazal was hungry for more.

The green-eyed boy picked up four more to register his second 10-wicket haul and affirm Pakistan’s status as a Test nation. His first had come twenty-two months earlier when he had outfoxed the Indian batsmen to bag 12-94 at Lucknow in Pakistan’s first ever Test triumph.

Tall and handsome, Fazal quickly earned himself a name for keeping the batsmen at their toes — regardless of the conditions or playing surface. Despite being dubbed as the master of matting wickets because of his brutal leg-cutters, his three out of four 10-wicket hauls came on turf wickets — a fact that was a testament to his genius.

Fazal’s precise line and length bowling — that he had developed from the early age because of the strenuous net sessions — laced with destructive swing and his signature leg-cutter made him remarkably effective.

He was a thinking bowler and the manner in which he uprooted the eighth wicket during the 1954 Oval Test underscores the legend’s splendour. Pakistan were faced with stiff resistance in the face of John Wardle. The left-hander blocked and ducked in search of a draw. But Fazal had planned to wind things up in the first session.

“You put your right foot here, left foot there, unfold your hands and stand ready for a catch. The ball will come right into your hands and you just grab it,” Fazal told Shujauddin Butt who was asked to field at short square-leg.

Soon a leg-cutter of Wardle’s bat found its way into Shujauddin’s hands who did not have to move a centimetre, and thirty minutes later Pakistan became the first Test nation to remain undefeated in their first-ever Test series on the British shores.

In two years Pakistan had achieved two remarkable feats as they beat India in India and now England at their home.

It was none other than Fazal who had scripted both.

Much of the credit has to be given to Fazal’s father, Ghulam Hussain, for his evolution into one of the most disciplined bowlers the world ever saw. Hussain, an Economics professor at the Islamia College which Fazal went on to attend, made his son go through the rigorous regimes from the early age.

Fazal woke up before dawn and ran several miles. He went to bed latest by 10 pm. Coins were placed on pitches when he bowled and Fazal earned umpteen pennies as he never got tired of hitting them.

At 13 he was picked up by his college’s cricket team and at 15 he became an integral part of its first XI. He narrowly missed the opportunity to tour England with the Indian national team; however, his heroics for North India secured him a place for the Australian tour at the time of Partition. But, Fazal withdrew his name and migrated to Pakistan.

Nine years later he got to play against the Aussies in the one-off Test at Karachi and secured his career best 13-144.

He shifted to Murree to train for the much-anticipated Test. He briskly walked up the mountains and consumed fresh fruits and vegetables for a month. Fazal boasted to Sam’s Hotel, where he stayed, manager that he will wrap up the visitors under 100 runs — which he did. His 6-34 at the economy of 1.25 allowed Australia a mere 80 runs. He picked seven wickets in the next innings as Pakistan thrashed the world’s most feared side by nine wickets.

Fazal’s discipline and prowess coupled with enduring stamina made him surmount the insurmountable. He was the architect of Pakistan’s most unforgettable victories in his decade-long career for which he will forever be celebrated as one of the greatest bowlers to play the game.

The writer is a Dawn.com staffer

Twitter: @ahsannagi

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2016