Pakistan’s introduction to Test cricket was nothing short of remarkable. Despite losing their inaugural series against India in 1952 by a respectable margin of 2-1, they quickly established themselves as a formidable competitor on the global stage. Their tour of England in 1954 further cemented this reputation, as they managed to draw the series 1-1—a feat that underscored their potential. While debates persist over whether England fielded their strongest XI in every match, the broader implication was undeniable: Pakistan was a team with the capability to challenge the traditional powerhouses of the game.
Yet, the promise of their early years did not immediately translate into sustained success against England. Over the next three decades, Pakistan endured a series of setbacks, failing to secure a single series victory against their English counterparts. In ten subsequent encounters—both home and away—England triumphed in six series, while the remaining four ended in draws. A five-Test series in 1962 seemed to signal Pakistan’s growing stature, but England’s commanding 4-0 victory had the opposite effect. Subsequent series were reduced to three matches, reflecting the perception that Pakistan was yet to develop the depth required to consistently compete with the best.
During this period, Pakistan produced a handful of world-class players—most notably the legendary Hanif Mohammad and the formidable Fazal Mahmood. However, the team as a whole lacked the structural integrity to consistently challenge the elite Test nations. This dynamic began to shift in the 1980s. A narrow 2-1 series loss in England in 1982 hinted at Pakistan’s growing resilience, and by 1984, they had secured a significant 1-0 series victory at home. The cricketing world took further notice when Pakistan held the mighty West Indies to a thrilling 1-1 draw in 1986—a result that confirmed their emergence as a genuine force. England, acknowledging Pakistan’s rise, extended an invitation for a five-Test series in 1987, marking the first such engagement between the two nations in 25 years.
At the helm of this resurgent side was Imran Khan. At 34, he was considered by many to be in the twilight of his illustrious career, yet his leadership and all-round brilliance remained undiminished. First appointed captain in 1982, his tenure had been interrupted by injuries, most notably debilitating shin splints. In his absence, Javed Miandad had briefly assumed the captaincy in 1985, before Imran returned to lead Pakistan to a historic 1-0 series victory in India in early 1987. With this triumph fresh in their minds, Pakistan arrived in England that summer with quiet confidence, believing they could defy expectations.
Beyond Imran’s inspirational presence and Miandad’s batting genius, Pakistan’s squad boasted an impressive blend of youthful exuberance and seasoned experience. A young Wasim Akram, already showing glimpses of his prodigious talent, was complemented by the guile of spinners Abdul Qadir and Tauseef Ahmed. The batting order, long considered a weak link, now carried greater stability with Ramiz Raja, Shoaib Mohammad, Mudassar Nazar, Mansoor Akhtar, and Salim Malik forming a formidable top order. With a balanced squad and a sense of purpose, Pakistan stood poised to challenge England on their home soil, seeking to rewrite history and stake their claim among the cricketing elite.
England Beckons: A Tour Clouded in Controversy
Buoyed by
their success in India, Pakistan set sail for England in May, embarking on a
tour that would test both their resilience and their reputation. The selection
committee—effectively an extension of Imran Khan’s strategic mind—made a few
alterations to the squad. One omission, however, ignited an off-field storm.
Qasim Umar, aggrieved by his exclusion, unleashed a barrage of allegations
involving drug abuse within the team. His claims cast a shadow over the touring
party, leading to an uncomfortable reception at Heathrow, where sniffer dogs
awaited them. The scandal, though never substantiated, marked the abrupt end of
Umar’s international career.
Once on the
field, Pakistan found themselves in a dogged three-match Texaco Trophy ODI
series. England edged the decider at Edgbaston by a single wicket, setting the
stage for an enthralling five-Test series. Both teams arrived battle-hardened,
having recently vanquished their fiercest rivals—Pakistan against India, and England against Australia. The hosts, fresh from reclaiming the Ashes, were
considered favourites. Yet Imran Khan, a man never shackled by preordained
narratives, had other plans.
Weathering the Storm: A Series Shaped by the
Elements
Pakistan entered the first Test at Old Trafford with a squad that was far from full strength. Imran Khan, despite leading the side, was restricted to playing purely as a batsman due to a strained stomach muscle sustained just before the match. The absence of Abdul Qadir, who remained in Pakistan attending to his ailing wife, further weakened the team’s bowling arsenal. Javed Miandad, a pivotal figure in the batting lineup, arrived late on tour following the birth of his son and was consequently short of match practice. However, these setbacks ultimately proved inconsequential, as relentless rain ensured that fewer than 15 hours of play were possible over the five days, rendering the match a dampened affair.
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, England compiled a commanding total of 447, anchored by a composed and methodical 166 from opener Tim Robinson. The young Wasim Akram, celebrating his 21st birthday on the eve of the match, continued to impress, claiming 4 for 111 in what was only his 16th Test appearance. Pakistan’s response was less assured, as they stumbled to 140 for 5 before the persistent rain forced an inevitable draw.
A little over a week later, the teams reconvened at Lord’s for the second Test, where once again the weather played a decisive role. England, the only side to bat, posted 368, with Bill Athey justifying the selectors’ continued faith in him by crafting a well-earned 123. However, rain delays prolonged England’s innings until the close of play on day three, and further downpours on day four ensured that Pakistan never even had the opportunity to bat. Despite the frustrating conditions, there were silver linings for the visitors—most notably, Imran and Qadir, now reunited with the squad, managed to get valuable bowling practice, hinting at a more competitive contest ahead.
Turning the Tide at Headingley
Pakistan required only five overs and one ball on the fourth morning to formalize their victory, a swift conclusion that left England with an all-too-familiar sense of despair. It was a dismal echo of their defeat by India on the same ground a year earlier. The pitch, riddled with cracks and offering erratic bounce, drew criticism, yet England’s batsmen bore greater culpability. Of their bowlers, only Foster adapted to the conditions with precision, skillfully moving the ball both in and away, compelling the batsmen into error. His spell, a masterclass in fast-medium bowling, yielded eight wickets, a performance as commanding as Imran’s. In contrast, Dilley’s away-swing rarely troubled the batsmen, Capel’s line and length lacked menace, and Edmonds oscillated between attack and containment. England’s decision to exclude Emburey in favor of a fourth seamer, Capel, proved misguided, while Richards deputized for French, still recovering from chickenpox. Pakistan remained unchanged.
England’s decision to bat first under a sky of high clouds and little breeze seemed sound, yet within a mere 63 minutes, they were reeling at 31 for five. The collapse was a testament not just to Pakistan’s pace and swing but to England’s technical frailties. Robinson, hesitant, fell to the third ball. Athey, playing late, perished in the seventh over. Broad, caught in indecision, succumbed in the eighth. Gatting shouldered arms to his demise, and Gower, in an ill-fated attempt to withdraw his bat, dragged onto his stumps. Imran, with figures of 7-1-16-3, was relentless; Wasim Akram, equally incisive, returned 10-4-20-2 before making way for Mudassar.
Botham, adopting a watchful approach, resisted for nearly two hours before Mudassar, having already bruised his instep—a blow that would prevent him from fielding—enticed him into an ill-judged drive at a gentle outswinger. Richards, inexplicably, left an inswinger from Wasim and paid the price. When the young left-armer tired, Mohsin Kamal stepped in, claiming three wickets in nine balls. Capel, resolute, reached a debut fifty with his sixth boundary but fell immediately after, driving a full-length delivery back to Mohsin, who plucked the return catch above his head. His innings, a study in patience and technique, lasted three hours and thirteen minutes, underscoring the value of a committed forward defence.
Pakistan, in response, faced 27 overs before stumps, during which England squandered three opportunities off Foster’s bowling. Mansoor survived two difficult chances, first to Edmonds, then to Emburey in the slips, while Yousuf, dropped the second ball, capitalized on England’s generosity, occupying the crease throughout Friday morning’s session.
Salim Malik, embodying quiet authority, orchestrated the second day’s play with an innings of discipline and refinement. His 99, compiled over five and a half hours from 238 deliveries, featured eight boundaries and was a lesson in application. His partnership of 72 with Ijaz Ahmed had already tilted the match decisively in Pakistan’s favour, and on the third morning, Ijaz and Wasim Akram extinguished any lingering English hopes. Ijaz, with audacious strokeplay, enthralled the Saturday crowd—back-foot drives behind point, a pair of dancing steps down the pitch for a straight boundary, and a flick of the wrists for a ninth four en route to his fifty. Wasim Akram’s innings, a cavalier 43 from 41 balls, was adorned with four sixes and two fours before Edmonds, sprinting in from fine leg, ended his spree with a tumbling catch.
England’s second innings unravelled almost immediately. Broad and Robinson departed in Imran’s first and second overs. Athey and Gower, displaying an air of reckless defiance, added 35 in the 38 minutes before lunch. Broad, adjudged caught behind off Imran’s second ball, was doubly unfortunate—the replay, scrutinized repeatedly, suggested the ball had merely brushed his left hand after he had withdrawn it from the bat, an injustice compounded by the wicketkeeper’s sharp reflexes. Yousuf, however, fared worse in the afternoon session when, after fumbling the ball and recovering it, he made an unsuccessful appeal for Botham’s wicket. The umpire dismissed the claim, and an incensed Botham had to be restrained by umpire Palmer, while Imran, ever the disciplinarian, reprimanded Yousuf in no uncertain terms.
With Qadir applying a vice-like grip at one end through 23 successive overs, Pakistan’s fast bowlers exploited the pitch’s fickle bounce from the Football Stand end. Imran, immaculate in his craft, claimed his 300th Test wicket with the dismissal of Richards, smartly taken at forward short leg, becoming only the eighth bowler to reach the milestone. On the fourth morning, he added three more to his tally, finishing with match figures of ten wickets. Capel, once again, exhibited resilience, batting for three hours, but England’s fate had been sealed from the moment their innings crumbled on Thursday morning. That Gatting might have made the same decision at the toss was of little solace; the execution, not the intent, had dictated England’s downfall.
A Battle of Attrition at Edgbaston
A placid Edgbaston pitch seemed destined for a tame draw from the outset, as Pakistan negotiated Gatting’s decision to bowl first with ease. Yet, the match, languid for much of its course, sprang to life dramatically after lunch on the final day, setting the stage for an improbable English victory.
An incisive spell of fast bowling from Foster, ably supported by Botham, dismantled Pakistan’s second innings with unexpected haste, leaving England with an ambitious yet attainable target of 124 from the final eighteen overs. Broad’s aggressive 30 in an opening stand of 37 off just five overs provided England with the perfect platform, and for a fleeting moment, parity in the series seemed within reach. However, Pakistan, marshalled by the relentless Imran Khan and the fiery Wasim Akram, expertly curtailed England’s charge. Unshackled by the constraints of one-day cricket—no fielding restrictions, no curbs on short-pitched bowling—Pakistan dictated terms as wickets tumbled. England, in the end, fell tantalizingly short by just 15 runs.
Both captains concurred that England, given their wealth of one-day experience, should have secured victory. Yet, it was Gatting who bore the brunt of criticism, particularly from the tabloid press, for his miscalculations in the early days of the match. He had gambled on the assumption that the prolonged spell of wet weather would render the pitch greener than usual, offering early assistance to his seamers.
Curiously, England omitted Radford from their twelve, despite his standing as the leading wicket-taker in the County Championship, opting instead for two spinners. The decision left England short of a paceman, a deficiency Pakistan exploited, amassing 250 for three by stumps on the first day. The innings was anchored by Mudassar Nazar, who compiled his ninth Test century with unwavering discipline, sharing a pivotal third-wicket stand of 135 with Javed Miandad. Miandad, reprieved on 15 when Botham spilt a straightforward chance at slip, capitalized to score 75.
Rain and bad light plagued the second day, delaying the start until 1:25 p.m. and causing several stoppages. One such interruption proved particularly farcical: umpires Whitehead and Meyer emerged from the pavilion, poised to restart play, only to be left standing alone on the square as England’s players remained oblivious in their dressing room. The miscommunication, later dissected with blame apportioned in multiple directions, was met with derision. Ultimately, the light deteriorated once more, and to the bemusement of the crowd, the umpires retreated, still without a sign of the England team.
Despite the interruptions, Dilley disrupted Pakistan’s momentum, dismissing Mudassar—after an epic vigil of nearly seven hours—along with Malik and Imran in a four-over burst. However, England failed to capitalize fully, allowing Pakistan to reach 439. A costly drop by Botham when Salim Yousuf was on 4 enabled the wicketkeeper to compile a career-best 91.
England’s response on the third day was propelled by a commanding opening stand of 119 between Broad and Robinson. The innings lost momentum in the middle phase as Imran, extracting prodigious movement, engineered yet another five-wicket haul—his 21st in Test cricket. Yet, Gatting, defying his critics, produced a defiant 124. His six-hour, 39-minute innings, punctuated by sixteen boundaries, ensured England a hard-earned 82-run advantage, aided by late-order contributions from Emburey and Foster.
Pakistan’s second innings commenced with just under an hour remaining on the fourth day, and all signs pointed towards an inevitable draw. By lunch on the final day, at 74 for one, they had nearly erased the deficit. However, Foster ignited a dramatic collapse, removing Shoaib, Mansoor, and Miandad in quick succession. Botham compounded Pakistan’s woes with a stunning return catch to dismiss Malik before clean bowling Ijaz. Yet, a crucial 13-minute break for bad light, coupled with Imran’s obdurate 37, prolonged England’s toil until the final hour.
England’s pursuit of victory was derailed by a series of run-outs, with Athey—though not solely culpable—embroiled in all of them. His inability to accelerate in the closing stages, managing a mere 14 runs in seven overs, proved costly and ultimately led to his omission from the Fifth Test.
Poor weather over the first four days restricted the attendance to 42,500, with gate receipts totaling £287,080. Thankfully, there was no repeat of the crowd disturbances that had marred the one-day international between these sides at Edgbaston in May. However, the necessity of a substantial police and stewarding presence significantly diminished the match’s profits. In the end, what had seemed a meandering contest transformed into a gripping spectacle, a testament to the unpredictable drama of Test cricket.
The Oval: Where Legends Are Forged
Gatting and Botham’s stoic resistance on the final day provided England with a rare moment of solace in a summer of dwindling fortunes. Their unwavering defiance for over four hours ensured that Pakistan's dominance translated into only a 1-0 series victory—their first in England—rather than a more emphatic margin.
To unsettle such a formidable opponent, England needed to seize the initiative by batting first on a measured, albeit slowish, pitch. Yet fate favoured Pakistan, as Imran Khan, winning his first toss of the series, set the stage for England’s third consecutive home series defeat. By the second day’s lunch, Pakistan’s batsmen had already dictated the match’s trajectory, and by the evening of the fourth, England—following on—remained a staggering 381 runs adrift with seven wickets in hand.
Seeking fresh impetus, England replaced Athey with Moxon, ending the former’s fourteen-Test run, and once again overlooked Radford in favour of a dual-spin attack. Pakistan, meanwhile, reintroduced Ramiz Raja and Tauseef Ahmed, sidelining Shoaib Mohammad and Mohsin Kamal for the first time in the series. The early removal of Ramiz and Mansoor by Botham and Dilley hinted at an opportunity for England to exert pressure, but Javed Miandad soon dismantled their aspirations. His long-overdue maiden Test century against England was merely a prelude to a masterful double-century—his fourth in Tests—making him only the seventh batsman to achieve such a feat. Having survived a difficult chance to Foster at long leg when on 9, Miandad reached 6,000 Test runs on the first day, guided by the steady Mudassar and the flamboyant Malik. England’s cause was further weakened by injuries to Dilley (ankle) and Foster (strained side), forcing the latter out of action for the remainder of the innings.
Malik, a picture of controlled aggression, surged from 64 to the 90s early on the second day before securing his sixth Test hundred—the first outside his homeland. His innings of 237 balls, spanning over four and a half hours, contained just six boundaries yet yielded a record 234-run partnership with Miandad for Pakistan’s fourth wicket against England. Imran Khan, in what he declared to be his final Test, added another milestone by registering his first century against England, accelerating from 57 to three figures while Miandad momentarily paused his own scoring. Though Miandad harboured ambitions of challenging Sobers’ record 365 not out, fatigue overtook him, and after a marathon ten-hour vigil—facing 521 balls and striking 28 fours and a six—he offered a simple return catch to Dilley. Imran’s innings, marked by his signature audacity, ended in an attempt to snatch a fourth run off Ijaz’s stroke, bringing Pakistan’s total to 600. His innings of four and a quarter hours featured a six and eleven fours.
On the third morning, Ijaz and Yousuf extended their seventh-wicket stand to 89—a record for Pakistan against England—before Dilley’s late burst secured him a career-best six for 154. Imran’s hopes of an early declaration were dashed by deteriorating light, forcing Pakistan’s innings to reach its full, imposing length. Their final total of 708, amassed over 13 hours and 40 minutes, surpassed their previous highest of 674 for six against India in Faisalabad (1984-85) and ranked as the sixth-highest in Test history—the second largest total ever conceded by England. Botham’s figures of 217 runs conceded in 52 overs set an unenviable England record, surpassing I. A. R. Peebles’ 204 from 71 overs against Australia at The Oval in 1930.
England’s plight deepened when Broad edged behind off Imran’s fourth ball, and at 78 for four, the prospect of a humiliating defeat loomed large. Gatting’s determined half-century and Botham’s dogged support saw them through to stumps, but their task on the fourth day was formidable. Survival depended on one of them batting through the day, yet Qadir’s probing leg-spin soon exposed England’s vulnerability. Only Emburey offered any significant resistance, striking a six and six fours as Qadir tore through the lineup with his finest Test figures of seven for 96, including a devastating spell of three for 13 in 37 balls.
Following on, trailing by 476, England faced the ignominy of an unprecedented margin of defeat. That humiliation became a tangible reality when Moxon, Robinson, and Gower fell cheaply. However, on the final day, with Wasim Akram sidelined for an appendix operation, England’s resistance stiffened. Gatting’s ninth Test hundred—his fifth in fourteen matches—anchored the innings, despite a series of missed chances at 5, 23, 58, 60, and 107. His undefeated 150, compiled over five and three-quarter hours with 21 fours, stood as a testament to his resilience. Botham, suppressing his natural attacking instincts, displayed remarkable discipline, eschewing risk and ensuring England’s survival. Joining Gatting 45 minutes before lunch, he remained steadfast until the job was completed at 5:25 p.m., salvaging a draw from the wreckage of an otherwise one-sided contest.
More Than a Victory: A Statement to the World
The years that followed solidified this team's claim to being arguably the greatest Pakistan has ever produced. From early 1985 until their away loss in Australia in 1990, Pakistan remained undefeated in Test series, a testament to their dominance on the international stage. During this period, they secured series victories over formidable opponents such as England, India, and Australia, while also engaging in two fiercely contested drawn series, both at home and abroad, against the West Indies. These accomplishments underscored their status as a force to be reckoned with in world cricket.
Although their 1987 World Cup campaign ended in the semi-finals, it did little to diminish the team's growing reputation. Imran Khan, ever the stalwart leader, continued both his playing career and his stewardship of the side, ultimately guiding them to the pinnacle of cricketing achievement—the 1992 World Cup. His leadership, marked by both resilience and tactical brilliance, became the defining feature of Pakistan’s golden era.
The 1987 series against England, however, was not without its share of controversy. The air was thick with allegations of cheating, unsporting conduct, and complaints over umpiring decisions. While these issues were undeniably contentious at the time, they now seem secondary in the broader narrative. What remains most significant is that this series served as a crucial turning point, solidifying Pakistan’s reputation as a genuine, world-class Test cricketing nation—one that could stand toe to toe with the best in the world.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
