Abdul Qadir deserved more words for his deeds

Eastern Magic Thats what appears above an action picture of Abdul Qadir in the 1983 edition of Wisden Cricketers Almanack Below that Ken Kelly image are the words Abdul Qadir of Pakistan whose flighted legbreaks and googlies revived a dying art in England in 1982Qadir who passed away in Lahore last Friday following a cardiac arrest went on to do more for the art of wrist spin to merit quantitative and qualitative tributes especially in England mdash whose batsmen Qadir more often than not troubled and tormentedSure he didnt even make the Test XI on his first tour to England in 1978 Indeed his match analysis of 10 for 211 at the Oval in 1987 did not eventuate in an England defeat and Mike Gattings Englishmen felt they were undone by some dubious decisions by umpire Shakeel Khan when Qadir claimed nine for 56 at Lahore in 198788 But which England batsman of that era can underestimate the skill involved in Qadirs 82 wickets against them in 16 TestsOn the day Qadir passed away the sports desk of a leading newspaper in London reduced Qadirs influence on the game to a small item which included Wasim Akrams tribute tweet carried among snippets during the last Ashes Test at Old Trafford Another heavyweight UK newspaper didnt even commission a tribute as they normally do The rest couldnt care less Yes the Ashes battle was far more important in space allocation but what is not understandable is the fact that several commentators and playerturnedwriters who played against Qadir were not moved to produce something which would pass off as an obituaryThe lack of tributes in the land where Qadir became the force he went on to be notwithstanding the mesmerising legspinner provided English writers a good amount of fodder through his performances and I found it worthwhile to dig up some materialHence I pulled out my 1985 edition of The Slow Men by David Frith which has Qadir on the cover The bubbly Pakistani is also part of the subtitle ndash The Art of Spinners from Tich Freeman to Abdul QadirFrith wrote that Qadir bore the responsibility of holding a life in his hands for true legspin delivered from a compact even cocky approach and with all the mystique of a dozen wrist angles allied to strength of finger and pinpoint length really belonged to another ageQamar Ahmed the doyen of Pakistani cricket writers informed readers in the September 1982 issue of Wisden Cricket Monthy of how Qadir the son of a preacher always carried a prayer mat in his kit bag and quoted him as saying I never forget to thank the makerPhil Edmonds the former England leftarm spinner pointed to Qadir being far more successful at home than abroad while attempting to put Qadirs performances 168 out of his 236 wickets were claimed on Pakistan soil in perspective in the book 100 Greatest Bowlers Give him the driest barest and hardest strip of earth anywhere from Lahore to Karachi and he will make the ball talk when nobody else can get a squeak out of it wrote EdmondsWhat did Richie Benaud another legspinning star think of him Qadir was among the spin probables before Benaud finally went for Shane Warne in his Greatest XI DVD Benaud said Qadir tried to get a wicket every ball which was not the kind of advice he received and dished out to spinners He was wonderful He gets into my short list because he is a character hes the sort of fellow I found exciting he was good to have in the side and he was great for the spectators coming through the turnstiles Benaud saidRecalling Qadirs action ndash which caused some followers of the game to call him a disco dancer ndash made me wonder why no one thought about producing a flicker book on his action But Patrick Eagar the ace photographer came up with a framebyframe sequence consisting of 12 pictures which was published in the October 1982 issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly which had an accompanying piece by Jack Bannister Qadir has a highly distinctive routine through which he meticulously wanders before the ball is sent on its way grudgingly just as if he is reluctant to ever part with the ball he tosses and caresses so lovingly wrote Bannister a former Warwickshire medium pacer who claimed 1198 firstclass wicketsQadirs emergence in 1982 provided better air for cricket to breathe in but not everybody visualised that other great practitioners of legspin would come along and give that art a good nameRobin Marlar wrote in Wisden Cricket Monthly If Abdul the Tweaker is the last of his kind and heaven forbid that it should be so at least we have seen a good un Mushtaq Ahmed and Anil Kumble made their Test debuts in 1990 while Shane Warne arrived in 1992No skill is easy to master especially legspin And like fast bowling the slow variety can be unrewarding Qadir didnt have it easy Three Tests against India in 197980 could fetch him only two wickets And he could send back only tailender Neil Foster when he joined the 1987 tour party from the second Test at Lords after attending to his ill wife back home He went wicketless in the next Test at Leeds only to strike some form in the final Test at the Oval and later that summer bruised fingers prevented him from taking more than three wickets for Rest of the World against MCC in the MCC Bicentenary match at Lords Qadirs final Test wasnt satisfying either ndash the solitary wicket of Brian Lara ndash on his home ground at LahoreThere are better ways to end a Test cricket career and at 63 he wasnt old enough to say goodbye to a life in which he had so much more to offerIt would be appropriate if Qadirs tombstone bore the same words that Wisden 1983 used in that captionmiddays group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individuals and dont represent those of the paperCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates