A maiden career century at Melbourne in 1972-73 got Sadiq Mohammad, Pakistan’s dashing left-handed opening batsman, noticed in Tasmania, where Latrobe Cricket Club brought him over to both coach and play for them. He was the youngest of five brothers — Wazir, Raees, Hanif, Mushtaq and Sadiq — four of whom played Test cricket for Pakistan.

Playing cricket in Tasmania offered Sadiq a fat pay-check, and while the standard of cricket was still wanting (they were not yet part of the Sheffield Shield, Australia’s first-class circuit), this was a real chance for him to cement his status as a professional cricketer, at a time when playing for Pakistan still meant poor pay.

In 1974-75, the West Indies were coming to tour Pakistan, in one of Clive Lloyd’s first captaincy assignments, and recent debuts for two West Indies cricketers — Andy Roberts and Viv Richards. They were also on the back of a competitive 5-match series in India, which they had won 3-2.

Sadiq and Majid Khan had already established themselves as Pakistan’s premier opening partnership, and the Board of Cricket Control in Pakistan (BCCP, the precursor to the PCB) asked the former to come over for the two match Test series.

However, Sadiq was told in Tasmania that he would not get paid for the matches he would miss while on national duty. Sadiq told Abdul Hafeez Kardar, president of the Board at the time, that for him to come back, the BCCP would have to pay both his Pakistan match fee, and the fees he would be missing from Tasmania.

Latrobe would not have let Sadiq go so easily. Having won their maiden trophy in the 1973-74 season (also their first final) mainly due to their marquee player, the Pakistan call-up came right during the Australian cricket season. In that season, Sadiq had scored 542 runs at an average of 42, and claimed 67 wickets. In just the final game, he scored 162 and took 43-5 in the first innings, and 20-4 in the second.

As recorded in Summer’s Warriors, a compilation of cricket in North-Western Tasmania, for the 1974-75 season, “Latrobe’s........

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