The first Test was in Barbados which was renowned for its batting-friendly wicket. The West Indies had a formidable batting line up with Hunte, Kanhai, Sobers, Weekes, Walcott, Collie Smith and Gerry Alexander as their first seven batsmen.

The bowling was spearheaded by the fierce pace of Gilchrist, the fastest bowler of his time. It included spinners Valentine and Collie Smith, the Atkinson brothers, Dennis and Eric, who could each bowl both swing and spin, and the versatile Sobers, who could bowl both fast medium or spinners depending on the situation.

West Indies won the toss and batted first, running up a formidable score of 579 for 9 wickets declared, that included centuries from Weekes and Hunte. Pakistan began their innings late on the second day and reached 6 for no wicket by the close of play. The next morning they started steadily to reach 35 before losing Imtiaz, but by lunch, when the score was 80 for 4 wickets, Hanif, Alimuddin and Wazir had also departed. After the interval further wickets fell in quick succession as the Pakistani innings folded for just 106. Gilchrist and Smith had taken 4 and 3 wickets respectively.

Pakistan were asked to follow on. With three and a half days still to go, and facing a deficit of 473 runs, a heavy Pakistani defeat was considered an almost foregone conclusion. However, fate had other plans in store.

An hour before tea Pakistan began their second innings, which would witness the biggest rearguard action ever seen in a test match. Opening once again with Hanif and Imtiaz, Pakistan decided to take the attack to the West Indies. By tea they had already put on 79 runs without losing a wicket. Imtiaz was on 49 and Hanif on 30. Imtiaz continued his assault after tea and had reached 91 when he became the victim of a shocking umpiring decision. He had audaciously advanced almost two yards down the wicket to play Gilchrist and was hit on the thigh by a ball going well down the leg side but was declared lbw. At close of play on the third day Pakistan were 162 for 1 wicket with Hanif on 61. Returning to his room that night he found a note of encouragement from Kardar saying “Hanif you can save it. Just stay there. You are our only hope.”

The next morning Hanif and Alim took the score to 219 by lunchtime. Hanif had reached his century and was on 100. With the score at 264, Alim was finally dismissed for 37, having added 112 runs for the second wicket with Hanif. Next in was Saeed Ahmed, who was making his Test debut, and at tea Pakistan were 295 runs for 2 wickets, with Hanif on 139. In the post tea session Pakistan stretched their total to 339 runs without losing another wicket. Hanif, who had taken most of the strike, was unbeaten with 161, having added exactly 100 runs during the day.

That night when he got back to his hotel room Hanif found another note on his dressing table. It was again from Kardar and said, “You will have a big name in the world if you can save the match.”

Hanif had been batting for a day and a half in scorching heat. He had modified his technique to handle Gilchrist’s pace. Normally Hanif had no problems with bouncers. Being short in stature they would go over his head. Gilchrist was different. He deliberately aimed his bouncers at the batsman’s head and Hanif adopted a new strategy to deal with this. He watched the ball closely and swayed out of its line at the very last minute. Once he tried to hook Gilchrist but was unsuccessful. Between overs Clyde Walcott advised him not to try that again as Gilchrist was too fast for him.

On the fifth day Hanif resumed batting with the same intense concentration that he had displayed so far. It was slow progress and by lunchtime the Pakistan score had moved up to 405. Hanif was on 186 and Saeed on 60. During the intervals Hanif would just sit in a corner and have a piece of chicken before heading to the masseur for a rub down. Once he found the masseur asleep and asked why he wasn’t watching the match. He replied, “Maan dem can’t get you out so why should I watch.”

Soon after lunch Saeed fell to Collie Smith for 65, after a third wicket partnership of 154. Hanif was now joined by his elder brother Wazir and they took Pakistan to 457 for 3 wickets by teatime. Hanif had completed his double century and was on 216. He was now farming the strike and playing with complete freedom. At close of play, he had advanced further to 270 and Pakistan were nearly safe at 525 for 3 wickets.

Hanif had seen off three new balls by now. He was in what cricketers refer to as “the zone.” In his own words he said he felt that he “knew every particle of the wicket and every face on the ground.” He also felt that he was playing every ball automatically and knew what the ball would do even before the bowler had delivered it. The note from Kardar that night said, “You’ve got to stay till teatime, then we will save the game.”

Hanif began the sixth day with a net session. He was surprised to find Eric Atkinson, who was playing in the match, arriving there to bowl at him and give him some practice. Interestingly, Hanif had found Eric the most difficult of the West Indian bowlers to handle. He was unable to pick which way Eric would move the ball, and had special difficulty in spotting his away swinger. Hanif would state in his autobiography that Eric used a lot of hair cream and many suspected that he applied it on the ball as well to help its lateral movement.

Hanif was also distracted by Eric Atkinson’s habit of whistling loudly as he came into bowl. He complained to the umpire who stopped Atkinson from doing so. Amusingly, Hanif was now disturbed by the silence and requested Atkinson to resume it.

The wicket had developed visible cracks and the ball was keeping low and turning awkwardly. Wazir was out shortly after the start of play, given caught behind on a ball that he had not played. He had added 121 runs for the fourth wicket with his brother, making it the fourth successive century stand in the innings that Hanif had participated in.

At lunch Pakistan were 566 for 4, with Hanif, now partnered by Wallis Mathias, on 297. He soon reached his triple century, the first by any batsman in the second innings of a team. At the tea interval he was on 334 and the match was safe. Wallis had departed, to be replaced at the wicket by Kardar, and Pakistan had reached 623 for 5 wickets, a lead of 150 runs.

The 23-year-old Hanif now had his eye on Hutton’s record score of 364. When he was on 337 he opened the face of the bat to an outswinger, trying to run it down to third man for a single. The ball took the edge of the bat and was caught by the West Indian wicket-keeper and captain, Gerry Alexander. Hanif’s mammoth innings had come to an end. Kardar declared a little later with Pakistan at 657 for 8 wickets and West Indies scored 28 without loss in the remaining time. Against all odds, the Little Master had earned Pakistan an honorable draw, by playing the greatest match saving innings in Test history.

Hanif was at the crease for a record breaking 970 minutes. His innings lasted for 309 overs which is again the longest on record. During it he lost three layers of skin underneath his eyes from the intense heat. There were no thigh pads in those days and Hanif had wrapped a towel round his thigh for protection. Despite this, he had palpable dents in his thigh muscles made by the hits he received from Gilchrist. That night Hanif was so tired that he went to sleep wearing his cricket kit.

In an amusing incident at the match a spectator watching the game from a tree outside the ground fell and had to be admitted to hospital for treatment. On his discharge from the hospital he wanted to know if Hanif was still batting. On learning that he was, he climbed the tree again to resume his viewing. Hanif had won the hearts of the Barbadians and had become a legend in cricket folklore.

Dr Salman Faridi is a senior surgeon, poet, sports aficionado and an avid reader with a private collection of over 7000 books. salmanfaridilnh@hotmail.com