Karachi
\nFormer Pakistan allrounder Billy Ibadulla died on Friday at the age of 88. He had a short, but notable international career, playing only four Tests for Pakistan between 1964 and 1967, but became the first from his country to score a hundred on Test debut.
\nIbadulla made his Test debut against Australia in Karachi in 1964, one of six Test debutants in that game as Pakistan regenerated after their early years of success.
\nIbadulla had been drafted into the side at the insistence of the captain Hanif Mohammad and he immediately repaid that faith, with 166 in the first innings.
\nHe was part of a 249-run opening partnership with fellow debutant, and wicketkeeper, Abdul Kadir. It remains the highest partnership between two debutants for any wicket in Test cricket, and was a national record for the first wicket until Aamer Sohail and Ijaz Ahmed broke it in 1997.
\nHe would only go on to play three more Tests though, instead building a fine career with Warwickshire. Unhappy, he came to England to forge a career as a professional cricketer and did so successfully, playing for nearly 18 seasons.
\nThat included key roles in two limited-overs cup titles in three years; he took 3-25 and scored 28 in Warwickshire\u2019s four-wicket win in the 1968 final.
\nAfter he finished at the county, he became a coach at a school in the UK, a sign of things to come. Soon after he moved to New Zealand to play for Otago (and some games for Tasmania in Australia) as well as do some coaching, He played a key role in the early development of Glenn Turner, one of New Zealand\u2019s greatest batters.
\nHe ended with a prolific first-class career, scoring 17,078 runs at 27.28 and picking up 462 wickets at 30.96. Of his 417 first-class outings, 377 were for Warwickshire, for whom he played for more than a decade.
\n\u201cHe was a special cricketer, one of the greatest, and we had lots of fun times together,\u201d Warwickshire president Dennis Amiss, who played alongside Ibadulla at the club, wrote in a tribute to his former team-mate. \u201cHe could be really naughty at times, lots of mickey taking and he gave as good as he got. We loved him at Warwickshire.\u201d
\nIn 64 List A matches, Ibadulla scored 829 runs and took 84 wickets. He also stood as an umpire in 20 first-class matches and 12 List A games. He also ran a private coaching clinic in New Zealand.
\nHis son, Kassem Ibadulla, also played 31 first-class games and 19 List A games for Gloucestershire and Otago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Karachi Former Pakistan allrounder Billy Ibadulla died on Friday at the age of 88. He had a short, but notable international career, playing only four Tests for Pakistan between 1964 and 1967, but became the first from his country to score a hundred on Test debut. Ibadulla made his Test debut against Australia in Karachi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-418476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n