Hanif Mohammad, the Pakistan batsman who has died of liver cancer aged 81, was the father of his nation's cricket and known as the 'Little Master'.
Opening batsmen are renowned for their resilience, but none has equalled what Hanif endured and overcame, on and off the field.
The endurance was first needed when his family life was wrecked. Born to well-to-do parents, Hanif led a happy childhood in Junagadh on the west coast of India, until Partition in 1947.
Being Muslim, Hanif's family took the few belongings they could salvage in a boat and ended up in Karachi in a disused Hindu temple.
Hanif had inherited ball skills from his mother, who had played badminton. In the new Pakistan there was no cricket and no money - but when the dust settled, Hanif was ready to open Pakistan's batting in their inaugural Test in India in 1951-2. Not only that, he scored Pakistan's first fifty, and kept wicket.
Pakistan had an exceptional captain in A?H Kardar, and an exceptional bowler in Fazal Mahmood, but Hanif was the star. The people of this new nation wanted something to cling to - an affirmation of identity - and it came on the radio, as they clustered in shops or streets to hear Test match commentary, and Hanif began the epic innings that were his trademark.
Pakistan's original cricketers won a Test match in the first series they played against every country - a tremendous feat. In 1954 they drew 1-1 in England. In 1957-8, in their first Test in the West Indies, the home side piled up 579 and Pakistan were blown away on a fast Barbados pitch for 106 by Roy Gilchrist, whose first ball soared over Hanif and the wicketkeeper. One afternoon at the Karachi stadium - some 30 years ago, though it could have been yesterday - Hanif told me what happened next. He was the gentlest of men, far from egocentric, quietly spoken yet not
placid, because he was an opening batsman, a breed ever on the alert for cues to promote survival.
Hanif recalled how, following on, he had reached 60 in his second innings by the end of day three (Tests were six days of five hours each). "By the end of the fourth day I was 160-odd not out and we started thinking we could save it. "Every evening I went to see some Muslim friends in Bridgetown for a meal, and when I got back there was always a message from Kardar waiting in my room, 'You can save us', or, 'They can't get you out', or, 'You are our last hope'."
At the end of day five, Hanif said, his eyes were bloodshot from the glare off the shiny pitch, yet the match had still not been saved. Kardar's message was: "If you can play until tea we will be safe."
Hanif batted beyond tea, and reached 337, then the second-highest Test score after Len Hutton's 364, but is still - to this day - the longest at 970 minutes. Hanif batted for 300 overs. The match was saved, as was Pakistan's reputation.
Soon afterwards Hanif scored 499. He told me that story too, but it was in a domestic game, for Karachi against Bahawalpur, in the semi-final of Pakistan's first-class competition. Not the intensity of a Test, but still quite a landmark to beat: Don Bradman's world record against Queensland of 452 not out.
After Bahawalpur had been dismissed, Hanif ended day two on 255. His elder brother Wazir (who, along with siblings Mushtaq and Sadiq, also represented Pakistan) told him to get a good night's sleep - the key to Hanif's concentration - and aim for the record. He passed it, and kept going, until the last over of day three arrived, and he had scored 496. So off the last two balls from a medium-pacer he needed four runs, or so he thought, and therefore tried for a second run when deep extra cover misfielded, only to be run out by four feet.
Then the scoreboard operators put up 499. They had been rather busy and missed two runs. Hanif had actually reached 498 with two balls to go. He need not have gone for a run off that second last ball, but could have waited until the last. He admitted he was very annoyed. Even so, it was 36 years before Brian Lara hit the first 500.
Hanif stroked the ball, with a light bat, but could be unorthodox as well as infinitely patient. He was the first to play the reverse-sweep in a Test, at Lord's in 1967.
Pakistan has produced glorious cricketers since Hanif Mohammad, but he paved the way as the Little Master.
