Mohammad Munaf (cricketer)


Mohammad Munaf was a Pakistani cricketer who played in four Tests from 1959 to 1962. He played first-class cricket in Pakistan from 1953 to 1971.

Life and career

Munaf was born in Bombay but settled in Karachi and it was there, as a strapping young fast bowler, that he first made his name in the Rubie Shield school tournament. At that time, he was good enough with the bat to have opened the batting with Hanif Mohammad for Sind Madrassah. Khadim H. Baloch wrote in his Encyclopaedia of Pakistan Cricket that Munaf delivered off a short run-up and had a slingy, round-arm action and some reports had him, at his peak, as one of the fastest bowlers in the country.
But his career coincided with early riches in Pakistan's pace resources. Fazal Mahmood, Khan Mohammad and Mahmood Hussain were all starters for the national side ahead of him. He toured the West Indies in 1957-58 without playing in any of the five Tests. His debut Test against Australia in 1959-60 only happened because Hussain was unavailable. He would go on to play only three more Tests, all in Pakistan, with a best of 4 for 42 against England in Lahore in 1961-62. He was also part of Pakistan's squad to India on the 1960-61 tour, though once again he didn't play a single Test.
Munaf's potential was never in doubt, though, as evidenced by two trips he made to England as part of the Pakistan Eaglets team. His career-best figures of 8 for 84 came on an Eaglets tour in 1963, against Kent. England may have been a good place for his bowling and though he was picked for what turned out to be a disastrous tour of England in 1962, he had to withdraw with a leg injury.
He was educated at Sindh Maddrasa-tul-Islam. He worked for Pakistan International Airlines. After he retired he moved to the Netherlands and lived in Amsterdam.