September 1, 1996 – All 11 Pakistan players win Man of the Match award in the same game

The 1996 tour of England turned out to be a successful one for Pakistan as they achieved a 2-0 series win in the 3-match Test series in England. It was the 3rd consecutive time that Pakistan defeated England on their home soil in a Test series. However, the ODI series went England’s way as the hosts registered convincing wins in the first two matches to seal a series win. A day after a huge 107-defeat, Pakistan faced the hosts in Nottingham in the final ODI in order to avoid a whitewash.

Pakistan handed ODI debuts to Shahid Anwar, Shadab Kabir and Shahid Nazir after losing the toss. Nick Knight, who scored a match-winning century on the previous day, repeated his heroics once again. The opening batsman batted through the innings despite not getting enough support from the other end. Knight remained unbeaten on 125 off 145 with nine fours as England made 246 in the restricted 50 overs before getting bowled out on the last ball of the innings.

A combined team effort:

Thus, Nick Knight carried his bat and became only the 3rd player and first from England in ODI history to carry his bat. His unbeaten 125 is the highest individual score by a player while carrying the bat in ODI cricket till date. The wicket column for Pakistan bowlers was a split show as Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq and the debutant Shahid Nazir took two wickets apiece while their skipper Wasim Akram was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets.

Chasing 247 to win their first game of the series, Pakistan got off to a flyer as the opening pair of Saeed Anwar and the debutant Shahid Anwar added 93 runs. Saeed scored 61 in only 59 balls with nine fours while Shahid scored a 44-ball 37 with six boundaries. Ijaz Ahmed’s 59 guided Pakistan towards a win as he shared a 63-run stand with Amir Sohail (29). But Adam Hollioake’s pulled things back for the hosts as Pakistan went down from 177/2 to 219/7.

All the 11 players were winners:

However, keeper Rashid Latif held his nerves to take Pakistan over the line with an unbeaten 28-ball 31. The visiting side got to the target for the loss of eight wickets with two balls to spare. Hollioake’s spell at end of the game read 8.4-0.45-4 which turned out to be an unsuccessful attempt at pulling a game from nowhere. This victory was a result of a combined team effort as four Pakistan bowlers claimed a minimum of two wickets while five batsmen scored more than 25 runs.

As many as nine Pakistan players either took multiple wickets or scored more than 25 runs, Tom Graveney, the former England player and the man of the match adjudicator announced all the 11 Pakistan players as men of the match. Only two players in Pakistan’s playing XI failed to make a mark in the game. Debutant Shadab Kabir took one catch but bagged a 2-ball duck while Asif Mujtaba conceded 27 runs in the five wicket-less overs he bowled and scored only two runs with the bat.

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