Qamar Ahmed

Qamar Ahmed ; (23 October 1937 – 18 June 2026) was a Pakistani cricket journalist and first-class cricketer who played for Sindh and Hyderabad cricket teams. He reported on more than 400 Test matches and the first eight Cricket World Cups.

Early life Born in the United Provinces of British India, Ahmed was the fifth of nine children – six sisters and three brothers. The family migrated to Pakistan following the end of the British rule in the sub-continent, and settled in Hyderabad. He played again for Sind in 1957–58, but the Sind team was discontinued in 1958, and he began playing for the new Hyderabad team in 1958–59. When Hyderabad won for the first time, against Khairpur in 1959–60, Ahmed took 6 for 36 with his left-arm spin in the second innings.

He captained Hyderabad in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in 1961–62, but they lost all three of their matches, failing to dismiss any of their opponents.

His highest score was 68 not out at number 10 for Hyderabad against Karachi A in 1962–63.

In Wounded Tiger, his history of Pakistan cricket, Peter Oborne says Ahmed has the unique distinction of having dismissed all five brothers of the famous Mohammad family in first-class cricket. In fact, although he did dismiss Hanif, Mushtaq and Sadiq, he did not dismiss Wazir or Raees – at least not in first-class cricket.

Journalism Ahmed earned a master's degree in English Literature at the University of Sindh and began his journalism career at the Indus Times in Hyderabad. Beginning in 1963 he worked as a freelance journalist. At the Third Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Sharjah in January 2014 he became the third journalist, after John Woodcock and Richie Benaud, to cover 400 Tests. At that stage he had also covered 732 One Day Internationals and the first eight Cricket World Cups. For most of his journalism career he was based in the UK. He witnessed the 1000th and 2000th Test matches.

Books Pakistan Book of Cricket (annual from 1976 to 1998–99) Testing Time (1983) Showdown: The Story of Pakistan's Tour of the West Indies 1993 (1993) Playing for Pakistan: An Autobiography by Hanif Mohammad with Qamar Ahmed (1999) An Artist's Impression of the Golden Greats of Pakistan Cricket (with Shafiq Ahmed) (2002) For Cricket and Country by Waqar Hasan with Qamar Ahmed (2002) Far More than a Game: An Autobiography of a Cricket Writer and Broadcaster (2020)