December 4, 1964 – The most one-sided match ever in cricket history

4th December 1964 witnessed the end of the most one-sided match ever in the history played in the Pakistan’s first-class competition, Ayub Trophy. The Pakistan Railways team turned out to be too tough on the Dera Ismail Khan side who featured in their first-ever first-class match. The game which was started on December 2nd with the Railways team electing to bat first came to an end on the 3rd day with the home side winning by a record margin of innings and 851 runs.

The Railways side piled up runs from the start of the game against Dera Ismail Khan in the game played at Lahore’s Railways Moghalpura Institute Ground. Opener Ijaz Hussain made 124 by sharing a 244-run 2nd wicket partnership with Javed Babar as they finished the first day at 415/2. Javed got out the 2nd day after he scored exactly 200. The Dera Ismail side ended up taking four more wickets on the 2nd day but Pervez Akhtar ensured his side scored 410 runs in the day.

Pervez struck an unbeaten 337, the then 3rd highest individual first-class score in Pakistan and the 5th highest as on today. He along with Mohammad Sharif put on 248 for the 7th wicket to take their total to 910/6 before they declared. The No.8 batsman Sharif too scored an unbeaten 106 to become the 4th centurion for the Railways side in the game and extend the troubles of opposition. Their total of 910 is one of the 11 900+ totals in FC history and 2nd best in Pakistan.

The dramatic collapse:

After fielding for nearly two and half days, Dera Ismail Khan came out to bat managing only 57 runs across both their innings. Their first innings lasted a mere 15.3 overs as they scored 32 runs which included 10 single digit scores and an obstructing the field dismissal. Railways’ bowler Afaq Khan took 7/14 in his 7.3 overs while their captain Bashir Haider took 2/15.

Their second innings turned out to be even worse as Railways wrapped the opposition out for 27 runs in only 12.3 overs. Ahad Khan bagged nine wickets in the innings by conceding seven runs in his 6.3 overs. The seven runs he conceded are the fewest by any player for taking nine or more wickets. Victoria’s Gideon Elliot took nine wickets for two runs in an innings against Tasmania back in 1858. Dera Ismail’s 27/10 in the 2nd innings is the 2nd lowest total in Pakistan FC cricket behind National Bank’s 20/10 against Customs in 1998/99 season.

The 57 runs Dera Ismail Khan team aggregated in the game are also the fewest for any team in an FC game in Pakistan after batting in both innings. Pakistan Railways’ win margin of innings and 851 runs still remains a record as no other team till date managed to win by more than 700 runs.