Kamran Ghulam: The hero of Hoylandswaine makes history against England
Wherever, and whatever, Hoylandswaine CC is exactly (it’s classed as Barnsley with a Sheffield postcode, about half-an-hour from Huddersfield), Kamran Ghulam has certainly come a long way from it, rising from the Haigh Lane ground in south Yorkshire to the Multan stadium in Punjab province, where on Tuesday he became the first Pakistani to score a hundred against England on Test debut.
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Hide AdWhat a moment it was - and what a moment it must have been for the fine folk of Hoylandswaine, where he was overseas player earlier this year - when Ghulam slog-swept Joe Root for the boundary that raised his three-figures.
He was the 13th Pakistani all told to score a debut Test century, a list that includes the great Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik and Younus Khan.
Perhaps most remarkably, as Pakistan made 259-5 on day one of the second Test, Ghulam not only filled the considerable boots left by Babar Azam, who was controversially omitted, but prospered pretty nonchalantly, all things considered, in spite of the furore surrounding that decision.
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Hide AdIt was one which confirmed to many that Pakistan cricket is a law unto itself, a perennial hotbed of chaos and controversy.
As Babar, whose 30th birthday it was, licked his wounds somewhere out of sight, Ghulam, who turned 29 last Thursday, seized his opportunity in memorable manner.
After years of striving on the sidelines, he gratefully received the hospital pass given to him by the selectors and ran with it - straight into the record books, as it turned out, to leave them, one imagines, with beaming smiles (internally at least) come close of play.
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Hide AdInclement weather, allied to a midsummer call-up by Pakistan A, restricted Ghulam to just six innings early last season for Hoylandswaine, who went on to finish third in the HCL Premiership.
The busy right-hander, fleet of foot against spin and a determined looking figure, hit 244 runs for the “Swaine” for just once out - when he fashioned his 75 against Scholes, also his highest score.
Otherwise, the collective might of Barkisland, Golcar, Shepley, Birstall and Rastrick were all frustrated by the broad and sometimes bruising blade of Ghulam, which helped Pakistan from 19-2 after Shan Masood won what could prove a vital toss on the same Multan pitch that was used for the first game which England won. Indeed, after Jack Leach bowled Abdullah Shafique with a ball that pitched around middle and turned just enough to strike off, and then had Masood working somewhat loosely to mid-wicket, where Zak Crawley scooped up a fine low catch, Ghulam shared in a third-wicket stand of 149 with Saim Ayub that laid the platform for what promises to be an intriguing game.
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Hide AdAyub was another who rather gave it away, driving Matthew Potts straight to Ben Stokes at short mid-off after striking a splendid 77, and Saud Shakeel edged behind the excellent Brydon Carse, who conceded just 14 runs from his 11 overs on the slow, low surface, which perhaps did not spin as much as anticipated - at least not yet.
Finally, England experienced the elation that must have been felt by those Scholes fielders when Ghulam – possibly overcome by the emotion of events – danced down the track to Shoaib Bashir, missed and was bowled.
It was something of a soft dismissal late in the piece, Ghulam unable to hide his disappointment as he trudged off having scored 118 from 224 balls with 11 fours and a straight six off Leach.
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Hide AdHe angrily slapped the stair-rail on his way up the dressing room and banged his bat into what looked like - and certainly sounded like - a corrugated iron wall; no doubt he threw his bat across the dressing room too and kicked the odd table.
Once the dust has settled, though, and this game, eventually, slips into the annals, Ghulam can look back with pride on a performance that spoke volumes for his character.
True, there was a bit of fortune along the way (there always is); he was dropped on 79 by Ben Duckett diving to his right at mid-on off Leach, an opportunity that was tough but should have been taken, and one or two edges either flew through the vacant slip area or landed just short when sporadically manned.
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Hide AdBut Ghulam has worked hard in Pakistan domestic cricket - his first-class average is now a lick above 50 - and it went to show again the old maxim that all good things come to those who wait.
If they are not exactly dancing in the streets of Hoylandswaine today, although well they might, they could at least be forgiven for gamboling lightly down the village lanes in that Barnsley/Sheffield/Huddersfield part of the world (delete as applicable).
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