The Tours of the Pakistan Eaglets to the United Kingdom in the 1950s and 1960s

Martin Chandler | 8:41am BST 15 September 2024

Published: 2024
Pages: 60
Author: Battersby, David
Publisher: Private
Rating: 4 stars

It all started back in 2020, when David Battersby published his look at the various tours of the Pakistan Eaglets to the UK in the 1950s. The Eaglets visited every year between 1952 and 1959, so there was no shortage of cricket and cricketers to describe.

A year later further research and the interest generated by his book being the causes, and Battersby had enough new material to require a 56 page supplement to be published.

And then another year passed and the companion volume to the original appeared, a look at the Eaglets’ three visits in the 1960s. These were in 1961,1963 and 1969. Most of the 1960s book was about the 1963 trip, which enjoyed by some distance the highest profile of all the tours and, in some ways counter-intuitively, it had very little on the 1969 trip, albeit it still contained everything that Battersby could find.

It is no surprise therefore that 2024 sees another supplement, the sub-title of this one being Additional Findings & Reflections – Part Two.

Once more the bulk of the new material comes from press reports that have been located since publication, and again many of the discoveries have been made in Pakistan by Najum Latif. The 1953 tour has produced the most new information, but there is at least something on all of the tours. Most satisfying is learning a little more about the 1969 tour, one of the participants in one match coming forward, and some ephemera and press reports relating to another being located. A particular pleasure on this occasion are the many well produced images of newly acquired items of memorabilia associated with the tours, press cuttings and photographs.

Will we see Additional Findings & Reflections – Part Three? I think that must be a racing certainty mustn’t it? As the message spreads amongst cricket tragics that Battersby and his readers continue to have a desire for further information on these tours I am sure that further memories of the trips will come forth, particular in relation to that 1969 visit given that, it having take place a ‘mere’ 55 years ago, there must still be a not inconsiderable number of men around who played in the matches, not to mention their sons and daughters who watched them do so.

In itself this one would make a disjointed read, so I don’t suppose anyone who doesn’t have at least some familiarity with its predecessors is going to invest in it. On the other hand those who have been infected with the same enthusiasm for these tours as Battersby and his coterie of fellow enthusiasts are all going to appreciate the further detail that has been unearthed, and which gets us a few steps closer to having a full history of this fascinating series of tours.

This time round there are 100 copies of the monograph which, it is worth noting, is the 23rd that has emerged from Battersby’s cottage publishing company in Cheltenham. The cost is a modest £10 inclusive of UK postage and packing and as ever Battersby can be contacted by email; dave@talbot.force9.co.uk.

This time there is also a bonus for the first 60 buyers, who will also receive a four page supplement looking at a related subject, the discovery of four matches played in Pakistan in the 1950s by scratch elevens raised by and bearing the name of Judge Cornelius, the man who founded the Eaglets.