World A-Team Cricket Forum - View Single Post - How a Flintoff put-down fired up reborn Shoaib

Maranello · #1 (**permalink**) 15-12-2005, 01:11 PM

Interview in The Guardian today (link). Some interesting snippets below:

Quote:

"It would probably be rude to put it all down to the personal comment that Freddie Flintoff made - 'It's all about the physique, he looks like Tarzan but he can't bowl' - but he said that out in Australia and I thought 'Thanks for focusing me'. I was struggling with injuries and maybe he didn't mean it like that. But it made me realise that something needed to be done. I had to find the full fast bowler in me."[..]

His status reaffirmed, he can talk of the bad times. "There have been lots of comments made about my commitment to the team. I said to them: 'I am a cricketer and I am here to serve my country to the best of my ability. Let me start with a new chapter.' Money and fame - I've been there and done that."[...]

"I practised the slower ball in the nets, I used cones and a stick, thinking that my ball should fly high to this point and dip from there. At first it wasn't dipping well. I wouldn't blame batsmen if they are playing a ball at 95mph and the next one is 60mph. Obviously, they will struggle. If it was me, I would be scared."

He has not always been a thinking bowler, his bowling brain being entirely programmed in his early days by that mighty Pakistani fast bowling pair, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. "They were both there at mid-on and mid-off. Every ball I bowled, they would say, 'bowl this one, bowl bouncer'. I never used my own brain. They left and I struggled for a year. Finally I managed to pull myself up, to be a thinking bowler.[...]

Inzamam had questioned if he could ever integrate such a wild spirit as Shoaib into a young Pakistan side seeking unity through religion but, against the odds, it has happened. Shoaib, the western-influenced playboy, now talks warmly about the happiest Pakistan side he has known. "We have had some bad times. Now we're learning we have to be united. If someone's down, go and pick him up.

"It's to do with the religion thing as well. People are forgiving, and that's the best thing. I am not the strictest Muslim, but I should pray. I am Muslim. It is just an obligation. You can't get away with part-time prayers; you have to do it. But I am a bit more religious, a bit more calmed down. I stay in my room, watch videos, watch cricket, work on charts, think about the one-dayers - just take it easy."