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{{Short description|Pakistani cricket umpire}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = Idrees Baig
| image =
| country = Pakistan
| fullname = Mirza Idrees Baig
| birth_date = 1911
| birth_place = [[Delhi]], India
| death_date = 30 July {{death year and age|1986|1911}}
| death_place = [[Karachi]], Pakistan
| batting = Right-handed
| bowling = Right-arm fast-medium
| role =
| club1 = [[Delhi cricket team|Delhi]]
| year1 = 1935-36 – 1945-46
| columns = 1
| column1 = [[First-class cricket|First-class]]
| matches1 = 7
| runs1 = 292
| bat avg1 = 22.46
| 100s/50s1 = 1/0
| top score1 = 106
| deliveries1 = 785
| wickets1 = 23
| bowl avg1 = 13.60
| fivefor1 = 1
| tenfor1 = 0
| best bowling1 = 5/27
| catches/stumpings1 = 1/–
| umpire = true
| testsumpired = 9
| umptestdebutyr = 1955
| umptestlastyr = 1969
| fcumpired = 46
| umpfcdebutyr = 1946
| umpfclastyr = 1975
| date = 1 September 2015
| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/40870.html Cricinfo
}}
'''Mirza Idrees Baig''' (1911 – 30 July 1986) (also spelled '''Idris''', '''Beg''' and '''Begh''') was a Pakistani [[umpire (cricket)|cricket umpire]]. He stood in nine [[Test cricket|Test matches]] between 1955 and 1969.<ref name="Cricinfo">{{Cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/40870.html |title= Idrees Baig |accessdate=7 July 2013 |work=ESPN Cricinfo}}</ref>

==Playing career==
Idrees Baig played seven [[first-class cricket|first-class matches]] for [[Delhi cricket team|Delhi]] in the [[Ranji Trophy]] between 1936 and 1946. (Delhi played only 11 matches in this period.) A middle-order batsman and fast-medium bowler, he scored one century, 106 in the victory over [[Gwalior cricket team|Gwalior]] in 1943–44, reaching his century in 155 minutes with 18 fours.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/17/17397.html| title = Gwalior v Delhi 1943-44| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 1 September 2015}}</ref> His best bowling figures were 4 for 29 and 5 for 27 against [[United Provinces cricket team|United Provinces]] in 1936–37, but they were not enough to prevent a three-wicket loss in a low-scoring match.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/16/16068.html| title = Delhi v United Provinces 1936-37| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 1 September 2015}}</ref>

==Umpiring career==
Baig umpired one Ranji Trophy match in 1945–46 (a few weeks after playing in his last match) and 45 first-class matches in [[Pakistan]] between 1953–54 and 1974–75. He umpired nine Tests in Pakistan: four in Pakistan’s five-match series against India in 1954–55 (the first four Tests in Pakistan), all three Tests against New Zealand in 1955–56, the single Test against Australia in 1956–57, and the First Test against New Zealand in 1969–70. He also umpired all four matches Pakistan played against the [[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]] in 1955–56.<ref>{{cite web|title=Idrees Baig as umpire in first-class matches|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/42/42242/Umpire_in_First-Class_Matches.html|website=CricketArchive|accessdate=1 September 2015}}</ref>

He was the subject of a controversial incident in [[Peshawar]] during the [[English cricket team in Pakistan in 1955–56|MCC tour of 1955–56]]. One evening some of the English players, fed up with what they regarded as Baig's pomposity on the field and his bias in favour of [[Pakistan cricket team|Pakistan]], kidnapped him, took him back to their hotel and tipped a bucket of water over him. The incident caused outrage in Pakistan and almost led to the abandonment of the tour, but diplomacy by the [[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]] president, [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|Lord Alexander]], and [[Iskander Mirza]], the president of the [[Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan]], smoothed things over sufficiently to allow the tour to continue.<ref>[[Peter Oborne]], ''Wounded Tiger: The History of Cricket in Pakistan'', Simon & Schuster, London, 2014, pp. 111-132.</ref><ref name="Guardian">{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/12/england-pakistan-test-cricket-donald-carr-1956-the-spin | title=From ‘torturing’ an umpire to spot-fixing, England v Pakistan: a difficult rivalry | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=12 July 2016 | accessdate=28 August 2017 | author=Bull, Andy}}</ref><ref name="Cricinfo and bucket controversy">{{cite web | url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/224157.html | title=The umpire and bucket controversy | publisher=[[ESPN Cricinfo]] | date=5 November 2005 | accessdate=28 August 2017 | author=Williamson, Martin}}</ref> [[Peter Oborne]], who has researched the incident, doubts if the suggestions of bias were valid. He points out, for example, that [[Henry Cooper (educator)|Henry Cooper]], who managed the [[New Zealand cricket team]] that [[New Zealand cricket team in Pakistan in 1955–56|toured Pakistan in 1955]], had singled out Baig as the best of the Pakistan umpires, calling him "first rate".<ref>Oborne, pp. 130-131.</ref> Baig does seem to have been more than usually vain, however; he told the MCC team's manager that people came to his matches to watch him umpire.<ref>Oborne, p. 116.</ref><ref name="Guardian"/>

Baig managed the 1957 tour of England and Wales by the [[Pakistan Eaglets]], a two-month, 35-match tour by young players that "passed harmoniously and highly successfully".<ref>Oborne, p. 131.</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Test cricket umpires]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{cricketarchive|ref=Players/42/42242/42242.html}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baig, Idrees}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:Cricketers from Delhi]]
[[Category:Pakistani Test cricket umpires]]
[[Category:Pakistani cricketers]]
[[Category:Delhi cricketers]]

Idrees Baig - Revision history

ImportMaster at 11:22, 20 May 2022