Former Pakistan cricket team's coach Geoff Lawson, left, talks to cricketers Mohammed Sami, center, and Iftikhar Anjum. AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi
My mind wandered as Pakistani bowlers, under instructions from their skipper Mohammad Yousuf, bowled negatively after tea in the Hobart Test yesterday.
There are Trophies named after well-known cricketers for some series, but not for the Australia-Pakistan Tests.
For example, the England Vs South Africa series is named The Basil D’Oliveira Trophy; Australia Vs West Indies as The Frank Worrell Trophy; Australia Vs India as The Border-Gavaskar Trophy; Australia Vs New Zealand as Trans-Tasman Trophy; Australia Vs. Sri Lanka as The Warne-Muralitharan Trophy; South Africa Vs West Indies as Sir Vivian Richards Trophy and England Vs India as The Pataudi Trophy.
Of course, The Ashes are synonymous with Australia-England rivalry since 1882-83.
And the one-day internationals between Australia and New Zealand honour two outstanding cricket families from across the Tasman – The Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.
So why not have a Trophy named for the Australia-Pakistan Test series, especially as the matches arouse so much passion?
First I thought of calling it The Lillee-Miandad Trophy.
Although logical, it sounded mischievous and provocative in view of the bat-lifting and kicking episode between the superstars in the November 1981 Perth Test.
I also considered Imran-Lillee, Waugh-Imran or Taylor-Akram Trophy, but finally have settled for The Imran-Lawson Trophy.
You may well ask me why.
I thought that it must have a Pakistani and an Australian cricketer who achieved most in the series, on the field and/or off it. Also, I drew selection guidelines.
Cricketers whose names have been honoured in other series, for example Allan Border, the Chappells and Shane Warne, should not be eligible. Current players, Ricky Ponting and Mohammad Yousuf, also do not qualify.
Who has best statistics in the Australia-Pakistan series?
For Australia, Border leads with 1666 runs, followed by Greg Chappell 1581, Mark Taylor 1347 (with the best average of 79.23) and Ponting 1278 after his century yesterday.
Warne has taken most wickets, 90, followed by Glenn McGrath 80, Dennis Lillee 71 and Geoff ‘Henry’ Lawson 33.
For Pakistan, Javed Miandad heads the aggregate with 1797 runs, then comes Zaheer Abbas, 1411. Among bowlers, Imran is on top with 64 wickets. As he also scored 862 runs, he is the outstanding achiever from either side.
Also he was a brilliant leader who would not have allowed the negative bowling tactics Yousuf employed yesterday.
So Imran is a certainty.
But who should we go for as the Australian representative?
Lillee with 71 scalps at 30.43 is a candidate. No one would grudge a trophy to honour the two immortals of the game. And Lillee-Imran Trophy has a certain ring to it.
Although a huge Lillee fan, I would like to nominate The Roar’s own ‘Henry’ Lawson. Apart from taking 33 wickets at 26.72 against Pakistan, he has done a lot for NSW and Pakistan as a coach.
Despite being treated so shabbily by the Pakistan Cricket Board, he kept supporting Pakistan cricket and cricketers when most were anti-Pakistan for their country’s problems.
I’m sure I’ll be roasted by Roarers but The Imran-Lawson Trophy will do me fine. ICC, Cricket Australia and Pakistan Cricket Board, please note.
Which two former players would be your choice?
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Fisher Price said | January 15th 2010 @ 8:48am | Report comment
Why does there need to be a silly named-after-former-players trophy at all? I much prefer the more substantial sounding Ashes or Wisden Trophy.
Viscount Crouchback said | January 15th 2010 @ 9:55am | Report comment
I agree. This seems to be an Australian thing? The ARU went on a naming frenzy circa 2000. Some trophies – the Calcutta Cup, the Ashes, the Bledisloe – have meaning, and some don’t. Certain types of society love to invent tradition, but let’s not force things.
Whiteline said | January 15th 2010 @ 9:40am | Report comment
Spot on Fisher! I’m sure Henry would be embarrassed by this suggestion Kersi – put this one to bed i reckon.
Michael C said | January 15th 2010 @ 9:45am | Report comment
Love to see the “Lillee-Miandad” trophy,
and there’s a particular image I could just see imortalised in wood/bronze and crystal…….
Brett McKay said | January 15th 2010 @ 10:04am | Report comment
yeah, I’m not sure I’m big on this Kersi, the need to name the series anything, or even the choice of names…
Josh said | January 15th 2010 @ 10:08am | Report comment
I like the idea of Henry getting a trophy guernsey.
However, I would like to ask – who exactly were “Trans” and “Tasman”??
Kersi Meher-Homji said | January 15th 2010 @ 11:32am | Report comment
You picked it up very well, Josh.
It was my error in placing Trans Tasman Trophy in the same paragraph as Trophies named after well-known cricketers.
formeropenside said | January 15th 2010 @ 11:56am | Report comment
Might as well name it after the captains of the first teams to play each other. If its the first Test teams, then its Kardar – Johnson Cup.
Remembering however that until the partition of India, Pakistan per se did not exist, and the teams from the 1934-35 Australian (first class only) tour of India might be appropriate, although the 3rd game in Lahore is obviously the most appropriate to treat as an earlier initial encounter, if that is sought (Wazir Ali – Ryder Cup). Perhaps the Services Team of 1945-46? Perhaps not, as no game was played in Lahore. So Kardar – Johnson Cup it is!
Spencer said | January 15th 2010 @ 3:10pm | Report comment
The” Khyber Cup”, for those with a memory for rhyming slang, but I suppose that it would be more appropriate for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Lawson?? – given his lowly position on the stats table? Nepotism old chap?
Either forget the idea, or find a single word/name that honours both countries.
formeropenside said | January 15th 2010 @ 3:46pm | Report comment
And, of course, the Gandamack Trophy for Afghan – UK encounters.
Kersi Meher-Homji said | January 16th 2010 @ 7:57am | Report comment
Jokes aside. If Australia-India series honours Border and Gavaskar, and Aus-SL series honours Warne and Muralitharan; why should Aus-Pak series not honour their respective high achievers?
Either have personalised trophies for all major series or not have any.
The above mentioned four plus Frank Worrell, Viv Richards, Basil D’Oliviera, the Pataudis, the Chappells and the Hadlees deserve to be immortalised. But what about Benaud, Imran, Lillee, Botham, Waughs… ? Just a thought.
Greg Russell said | January 16th 2010 @ 8:06am | Report comment
Greetings (to those who know me) from Germany, where I am working for the year.
It’s strange following cricket from this distance. The last time I did this there was no internet, so the situation was quite simple. But now the world is different, and one is in the strange situation of being both very close and very far, i.e., no TV. It beats me that EuroSport shows the Africa Cup of Nations (yawn!) around the clock, when it could instead be showing some far more interesting sport from Hobart and Johannesburg (!), but that’s life. A perceptive friend is so convinced of Ponting’s demise that he bet me that the “freshly baked” (to use a German phrase) Cricketer of the Decade will average less than 40 over the rest of his career. Obviously I can’t see with my own eyes just how much conviction has disappeared from the great man’s pull shot (the topic du jour of the cognoscenti on Cricinfo), but it seems a safe bet to me that RTP will average over 40.
To Kersi’s article. I find the comments above to be largely sensible. However I thought I would add one thing: Kersi’s suggestion has a nice symmetry to it in that just as Henry contributed to Pakistani cricket, so also the Lion of Pakistan contributed to Australian cricket. Namely, Kersi forgot to mention Imran’s influential season with NSW in 1984/5, when he helped them to win the Sheffield Shield and he nurtured the young Steve Waugh in a significant way.
Still, it must be said that Imran-Lawson is an uneven partnership in that one was a great of the game and the other was not.