Early career In his first Test – against England at
Karachi in 1969 – the twenty-year-old Sarfraz took no wickets, did not bat and was dropped for three years. In 1972–73 by taking 4/53 and 4/56 against
Australia at the
SCG, accounting for
Ian and
Greg Chappell,
Keith Stackpole and
Ian Redpath, but this did not stop the hosts winning by 56 runs. At
Headingley in 1974 Sarfraz hit 53 off 74 balls to convert 209/8 into 285 all out, driving the ball fiercely off
Geoff Arnold,
Chris Old,
Mike Hendrick,
Tony Greig and
Derek Underwood in a low scoring match. Against
Clive Lloyd's
West Indians in 1974–75 he took 6/89 at the
Gaddafi Stadium in
Lahore to dismiss them for 214, but the Test and the series were both drawn. Sarfraz was made vice-captain to
Wasim Bari, but disappeared before the Second Test against England in 1977–78. He was found in
London where he had gone to see
Christmas and returned to Pakistan in time for the Third Test. As
World Series Cricket was operating at time it was speculated that he was negotiating with
Kerry Packer. At
Headingley in 1978 he took 5/39 to reduce England to 119/7, dismissing
Mike Brearley,
Graham Gooch,
David Gower,
Ian Botham and
Bob Taylor, but rain ruined play and the match was drawn. More decisively in 1978–79 Sarfraz's haul of 4/89 and 5/70 against
India at
Karachi gave Pakistan victory in the third and final Test by eight wickets. He took 17 wickets (25.00) in the series, the most by any player and Pakistan won their first Test series against their rivals despite having played them since 1952.
Australia 1978–79 Sarfraz's greatest bowling performance took place in the First Test at
Melbourne on 15 March 1979 when
Australia were 305/3 with
Allan Border (105) and
Kim Hughes (84) at the crease needing only 77 runs to win. Sarfraz took 7/1 in 33 balls (3 of these runs came in no-balls which did not count against his analysis in those days) and dismissed Australia for 310 to give
Pakistan a surprise 71 run victory. Sarfraz had also made 35 coming in at 99/6 in the first innings and took 11/125 in the match. He was also involved in the controversial dismissal of
Andrew Hilditch for
handling the ball in the Second Test at the
WACA in
Perth. The batsman was at the non-striker's end when the ball was returned to the crease by the wayward throw of a fielder. Hilditch picked up the ball and politely gave it to Sarfraz, Sarfraz appealed and Hilditch was given out. It was second time in a hundred years of Test cricket that a batsman had been given out in this fashion and although strictly correct it was considered to be against the spirit of the game. Earlier in the match the Australian
tailender Rodney Hogg had been run out while 'gardening' and
Alan Hurst controversially ran out
Sikander Bakht when backing up, two pieces of
gamesmanship which caused bad feeling between the teams. Australia made 236/3 to win the Test and square the series, the other two batsmen being run out and no bowler taking a wicket.
Later career Sarfraz played for
Northamptonshire in two separate spells and in the 1980
Benson and Hedges Cup Final he took 3/23 off 11 overs to restrict
Essex to 203/8 in
Northant's six run win. In 1983–84 he took 4/42 and 2/27 in the First Test against
England at
Karachi and hit the winning runs when Pakistan made 66/7 to win. After several 'retirements' the Third Test at the
Gaddafi Stadium in
Lahore proved to be his last and in the first innings his 4/49 helped dismiss England for 241. When Pakistan were reduced to 181/8 Sarfraz made 90, his highest
Test and
first-class score, adding 161 for the ninth wicket with his captain
Zaheer Abbas (82 not out) to give his team a 102 run lead.
David Gower made 173 not out and Safraz was hit for 1/112 in the second innings, but came in at 199/5 and saw out the match with 10 not out. This ensured that Pakistan kept their 1–0 lead to win their first Test series against
England.
Style Being 6’6'’ tall, Sarfraz was described "as strong as a cart-horse" and his powerful upper body and good action allowed him to bowl at a
fast-medium pace. He could seam the ball in either direction and despite the convention he repeatedly
bounced other
fast bowlers such as
Jeff Thomson and
Joel Garner. As a batsman he was a good lower-order striker of the ball particularly when driving and averaged over 40 in a series on three occasions.
Battle against match fixing When
Bob Woolmer was found dead in
Jamaica, Sarfraz was quick to suggest that he was murdered, even before the postmortem, linking it to corruption in cricket. He subsequently raised concerns about the safety of Pakistani cricketers in West Indies, claiming
Woolmer and
Inzamam Ul Haq were getting threats from the bookies without naming his sources. He requested the involvement of Scotland Yard in the investigations, questioning the credibility of Jamaican police. He also alleged that the match Pakistan lost against West Indies in the
2007 Cricket World Cup was fixed. == Post-retirement ==