5 best father-son duos in cricket

The history of cricket has been witness to quite a few instances of two or more members from the same family have played the game. Siblings, cousins, uncles, nephews, grandchildren – the sport has seen it all. There have also been a few families where both father and son have represented a cricketing nation.While not all father-son duos have done too well in terms of performance, there have been a few exceptions when both have been able to carve a separate niche for themselves as international cricketers.We take a closer look at 5 of the best father-son duos in the world of cricket:

#5 The Amarnath Family

Lala and Mohinder Amarnath – two of Indian cricket’s most valued servants

Father - Lala Amarnath

Son - Mohinder Amarnath

India’s most popular father-son cricketing duo is that of Lala Amarnath and Mohinder Amarnath, Although Lala had two other sons in Surinder and Rajinder, Mohinder was the one who had the most prominent career among the three.

Lala Amarnath had a long career in terms of years, however, he only played 24 Tests for India in which he scored 878 runs and took 45 wickets. His best performances with both bat and ball came against England, a highest score of 119 on debut in Mumbai and 5 for 96 at Manchester.

Mohinder Amarnath is one of the best batsmen to have played the game for India and produced some memorable performances in his career. Unlike his father, it took Mohinder 8 long years to score his first Test ton, but he went on to get 10 more after that. One of his great achievements was to win the Man of the Match award at the 1983 World Cup final, which India won.

Among their noticeable similarities was the fact that they were both medium pacers.

#4 The Mohammad Family

Hanif Mohammad holds the record for the longest ever Test innings – 970 minutes

Father - Hanif Mohammad

Son - Shoaib Mohammad

One of the Pakistan’s most popular father-son duo is that of batsmen Hanif Mohammad and Shoaib Mohammad. While Hanif was one of the biggest stars in Pakistan cricket at one point of time, Shoaib too had a very decent career with the bat in hand.

In the 55 Tests that he played, Hanif Mohammad scored close to 4,000 runs at a terrific average of a shade under 44. His most famous innings among the 12 centuries that he got was his 337 against India, which is till date the highest Test score by a Pakistani batsman.

His son Shoaib Mohammad, on the other hand had a slightly shorter career and scored lesser runs, but did surpass his father in terms of his batting average which was above 44. His highest score of 203 not out came against New Zealand in 1990.

What made the father and son similar was that they were both occasional right arm off-break bowlers.

#3 The Pollock Family

The father-son duo are among the best pacemen for South Africa

Father - Peter Pollock

Son - Shaun Pollock

Shaun Pollock and Peter Pollock together form the best father-son duo in South Africa’s cricketing history. During their playing days, both were among the more widely-regarded fast bowlers of their time.

Despite having a short career which lasted just 28 matches, Peter Pollock produced some devastating bowling spells which floored even teams like Australia. Senior Pollock claimed 116 wickets at an incredible average of 24.18 and best bowling figures of 6 for 38, which came in his debut Test against New Zealand.

Shaun Pollock, on the other hand, is one of the greatest fast-bowling allrounders to have played for South Africa. His career tally of 7,386 international runs and 829 international wickets put him right there with the best allrounders of all time. Moreover, junior Pollock is also the highest wicket taker for his country in both Tests and ODIs.

Perhaps the most striking similarity between father and son in terms of their cricket is their low bowling average in Tests, 24.18 for Peter and 23.11 for Shaun.

#2 The Cairns Family

Lance and Chris Cairns were known for their big-hitting

Father - Lance Cairns

Son - Chris Cairns

The greatest father-son duo to have represented New Zealand in cricket is that of Lance Cairns and Chris Cairns. Both of them were medium pacers by trade but were also good with the bat, son Chris being a notch higher than his father in terms of accomplishments.

During his 11-year career, Lance Cairns played for the Kiwis in both Test matches and ODIs. He picked up 130 wickets in 43 Tests with his swing bowling, his best being 7 for 74 against England in Headingley. A popular moment from his international career came in an ODI when he hit 53 off 25 in a losing cause against Australia, hammering 6 brutal sixes during his innings.

Chris Cairns was one of the best all-rounders in the game during his playing days. He scored more than 3,000 runs and took over 200 wickets in Tests at very decent averages of 33.53 and 29.40 respectively. However, he was always more popular for his exploits in the ODI format and produced some great all-round performances for the Kiwis.

The common factor that connects the two members of the Cairns family even more is that they were both big hitters of the cricket ball.

#1 The Broad Family

Both Chris and Stuart Broad have been Ashes heroes

Father - Chris Broad

Son - Stuart Broad

One of the most famous father-son duos in cricket history has been that of Englishmen Chris Broad and Stuart Broad. While father Chris was a left-handed opening batsman for his country, son Stuart Broad is one of two spearheads of the present England bowling attack, the other being James Anderson.

The senior Broad played 25 Test matches for England between 1984 and 1989 and scored 1661 runs at an average of just under 40. His greatest moment in the sun came during the 1986/87 Ashes, when he scored 3 centuries in consecutive Tests and ended up being England’s highest scorer in the series with 487 runs.

The fact that he is now the 4^th highest wicket taker (315) for England in Tests at the age of 29 speaks volumes about the stature of Stuart Broad in modern-day cricket. Moreover, he has also been a handy bat having scored more than 2,000 runs in his career at a 20 plus average.

The greatest similarity between the two Broads apart from their batting hand is that both have been Ashes heroes in their own right.