Wasim And Waqar >

[Ernest]

By any standards two great stars, I was lucky to see Wasim play for Lancashire many times.

England have taken what seems an eternity to find an all-rounder to fill Ian Bothams boots, well it would seem we have at last solved that problem with Andrew Flintoff.

Must have been a great blow to Pakistan, when these two players could no longer play for the national team.

Is there any signs of a budding wasim, and or Waqar? coming through, great players are born IMHO, and tend only to appear once in a generation.

[Maranello]

Good question Ern. You are right, truly great cricketers are born once a generation. Imran Khan was one such cricketer, someone who is a contender for a World XI from any era, and was the best all-rounder bar one (Sobers) in the history of the game.

Pakistan were very lucky in that even before Imran retired, we had his bowling successor in place; not one, but two world-class fast bowlers, who would have graced any team. However, after Wasim and Waqar, the cupboard is relatively bare. Shoaib Akhtar is not even close to their class, despite being one of the best pace bowlers of his generation from any country.

There have been a few others over the years who have impressed in flashes: Muhammad Zahid was labelled by Ian Chappell as the fastest bowler he ever saw on his trip to Australia a few years ago, but injuries blighted his career. Muhammad Akram was a good prospect, but did not go on to bigger things, and plays for Sussex in England now. There was Ata-ur-Rahman, a decent prospect, but had his career cut short due to other factors. The list goes on and on... many promising young fast bowlers have been tried but none was persevered with.

The three promising youngsters in the current set-up, Sami, Umar Gul and Shabbir are all rated highly by coach Woolmer. The latter two are out with long-term injury, but Sami may start learning and improving soon. These guys have the potential and some talent, but need the coaching to become good quality Test players. Needless to say, their talent does not compare to Waqar, who did not need any such coaching to become the most feared fast bowler of the early 90s.

Some other youngsters are knocking about in the domestic set-up, eg Irshad, Waqar Ahmed, Asif, et al. All could become decent Test prospects over time, with hard work and coaching, maybe the Hoggard or Gillespie level, or Pollock / Donald if they are truly special. However none of these shines through as the next Waqar or Wasim - those two were unique!

[Ernest]

Well Maranello what you are saying is that as far as replacements for Waqar and Wasim are concered, you don.t have any.

Wasim was really an all-rounder, but not having one, makes for Pakistan being able to play traditional cricket.

6 Specialist bats,
1 keeper
4 Specialist bowlers.

I think Woolmer will mould a team of method players, by that I mean players who will not give their wickets away with ease, and bowlers bowling with accuracy.

Pakistan have a couple of fast bowlers, and some decent players who need to play for each other, to harp on again I think Woolmer will be good for the likes of Sami.
I think under Pakistans possition at the moment, a keeper who can bat well, is a must.

[Zainub]

Originally Posted by Ernest

Well Maranello what you are saying is that as far as replacements for Waqar and Wasim are concered, you don.t have any.

Of coarse we don't have apt replacement for two guys who took close to 1000 test wickets b/w them and are in many people's views some of the best fast bowler the world will ever see...you don't have "replacments" for those kinds of player Ernest ...you just have other players who make the side trying to do their job. That's like asking if Australia have a replacment for McGrath or Warne, of coarse they'll tell you of all their up and coming players but no one can be realistically expected to fill in the boots of people who are establised greats, once in a lifetime players.

As M said, and pointed out, we have a number of very promising fast bowlers, and all rounders coming through, we have in generally a lot of talent filtring through the ranks, talent is never been the problem, but talent alone as we all know will not help our cause. We will need professinalism and application. Please follow the link to our discussion on the WAT Pakistan A team here to find out more on up and coming bowlers, batsmen, keepers and all rounders.

[Ernest]

What I meant with replacments Zainub, was players you could point to and say, Hey with a LITTLE coaching he could be a replacment for waqar, I expect this will be achieved, because I believe Pakistan have one or two quite nippy bowlers.

But Wasim is another matter, he was not just a cricketer, he was not just an all-rounder, he was larger than life, and the sort of player you could enjoy, even if he was playing your team.
Like Flintoff, Botham, Dev, people paid good money at the gates, just to watch him play, he is one of those players I class as being born to play cricket, rather than coached to be great.

can't tell I was a fan can you

[Maranello]

Good post as always Ernest, and agree with all that you say...except this bit:

Originally Posted by Ernest

Like Flintoff, Botham, Dev, people paid good money at the gates, just to watch him play

Overall, a better crickter than these three gentleman was a certain Imran Khan. Botham and Dev were great, Flintoff is a phenemonal talent, Wasim, Hadlee and Rice were spectacular...but Imran was all that and a lot, lot more... both on the field, whilst batting, bowling, leading or off the field. Larger than life? You bet!