Rameez Raja

Rameez Hasan Raja (Urdu: رميزراجہ‎; born 14 August 1962) is a Pakistani former cricketer, who represented Pakistan (sometimes as captain) during the 1980's and the 1990's. Since retiring from cricket, he has been a commentator in international cricket matches.^[1][2][3]

Domestic career

Rameez made his first-class cricket debut in 1978.

International career

Golden years

He received his opportunity to play in a Test match against England. His performance was unimpressive, as he was dismissed for 1 run in each innings. However, with the retirement of several players in the Pakistan squad and with the help of his years of experience in first-class cricket, Raja was able to secure a spot in the national side.

Rameez played international cricket for 13 years, appearing in 57 Test matches, with a career average of 31.83 and scoring two centuries. In the One Day International arena, he played 200 matches and scored 9 centuries. He was a member of the national side that reached the semi finals of the 1987 World Cup. He scored 2 centuries in the 1992 World Cup, which was held in Australia, including a century against New Zealand, who had been undefeated during that period. He was awarded the man of the match for his match winning performance which earned Pakistan a place in the semi-finals of the tournament. In the final against England, Rameez had the honour of taking the final catch which won the world cup for Pakistan. This became the pinnacle of his cricketing career, as within a year of this triumph, he had lost form and was dropped from the national side.

Obstructing the field

Rameez became the first player in One Day International history to be given out by "obstructing the field" against England, in a match at Karachi in 1987. England had scored 263 runs for 6 wickets during their 44 over innings. For Pakistan, Raja opened the batting and had reached 98 runs when the last ball of the match was bowled, with Pakistan needing 25 runs to win in the last over. During this last over, he hit the ball and sprinted for two runs that would have given him his century, but was well short of the crease when the fielder's return came towards him and Raja knocked the ball away with his bat and was given out for "obstructing the field".

Late career

However, he was recalled back to the Pakistan squad and played in the 1996 cricket World Cup. During the 1995–1996 season, he was removed from the captaincy, after Pakistan lost their first home series to Sri Lanka. His final game in a Test match for Pakistan was as captain in the 1996–1997 tour of Sri Lanka, however the team failed to win a match during the series. He retired from all forms of cricket in 1997 and since then he has been active as a television commentator and as an administrator for both Pakistan and international cricket.

Commentary career

Raja has worked as a commentator on Test Match Special and Sky Sports, during the 2006 England Test series against Pakistan. He has also worked as the chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board, but resigned from his job in August 2004, citing increasing media commitments. He is currently working many commentary careers along with Pakistani tours as well as many domestic tournaments.

Raja worked as a CEO of the Pakistan Cricket Board, simultaneously serving as a cricket commentator. He resigned from the post in August 2004 citing increasing media commitments as the reason for his decision.

International centuries

Test centuries

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

Test centuries of Rameez Raja
No	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Start date	Result
[1]	122	6	Sri Lanka	Colombo, Sri Lanka	P Sara Oval	22 March 1986	Drawn
[2]	114	12	India	Jaipur, India	Sawai Mansingh Stadium	21 February 1987	Drawn

One Day International centuries

One Day International centuries of Rameez Raja
No	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Date	Result
[1]	113	57	England	Karachi, Pakistan	National Stadium, Karachi	20 Octobre 1987	Won
[2]	101	84	New Zealand	Auckland, New Zealand	Eden Park	11 March 1989	Won
[3]	116*	101	Sri Lanka	Hobart, Australia	Bellerive Oval	15 February 1990	Won
[4]	107*	102	Sri Lanka	Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	17 February 1990	Won
[5]	114	107	New Zealand	Sialkot, Pakistan	Jinnah Stadium	6 November 1990	Won
[6]	102*	128	West Indies	Melbourne, Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground	23 February 1992	Lost
[7]	119*	133	New Zealand	Christchurch, New Zealand	AMI Stadium	18 March 1992	Won
[8]	109*	153	Sri Lanka	Sharjah, UAE	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	4 February 1993	Won
[9]	104*	119	West Indies	Sharjah, UAE	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	13 October 1995	Won

International awards

One-Day International Cricket

Man of the Match awards

S No	Opponent	Venue	Date	Match Performance	Result
1	West Indies	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	6 March 1985	1 Ct. ; 60 (88 balls, 7x4)	Pakistan won by 7 wickets.[4]
2	New Zealand	Eden Park, Auckland	11 March 1989	101 (114 balls, 9x4, 1x6)	Pakistan won by 7 wickets.[5]
3	England	Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur	30 October 1989	85* (82 balls, 8x4)	Pakistan won by 6 wickets.[6]
4	Sri Lanka	Bellerive Oval, Hobart	15 February 1990	1 Ct ; 116* (148 balls, 8x4)	Pakistan won by 6 wickets.[7]
5	New Zealand	Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot	6 November 1990	114 (123 balls, 14x4)	Pakistan won by 105 runs.[8]
6	Sri Lanka	Sports Stadium, Sargodha	10 January 1992	74 (83 balls, 10x4)	Pakistan won by 8 wickets.[9]
7	South Africa	SuperSport Park, Centurion	21 February 1993	53 (79 balls, 4x4, 1x6)	Pakistan won by 22 runs.[10]

See also

• List of cricket commentators

References

External links

• Rameez Raja at ESPNcricinfo
• Ramiz Raja on Twitter