Pakistan new bowling sensation

[workkey]

Yasir ali is a very good prospect for future..he made his debut 2 years back against bangladesh in the home series..
and today playing against the south african academy team he got figures of 5/58 including a hatrick..
my good wishes for him in the future and hopefully he gets another chance when english team is here

[Maranello]

He has been around for a while though, as you point out. And he has been at all these camps and fast-bowling clinics from where Bari, Woolmer and Inzi have selected our recent squads. It seems the selectors preferred the likes of Riaz Afridi, Rana Naved, M Asif, M Khalil and Shahid Nazir to Yasir Ali. Previously, they went for Fazl-e-Akbar and Abdur Rauf et al.

If this guy is lower down the pecking order than this sorry lot, than I fear he is not much of a sensation - unless you meant sensationally woeful

Of course, he could quite easily have improved tremendously of late, and I do not rule that out. With proper coaching and mentoring, dozens of Pakistani kids could become Test quality pace bowlers. Alternatively, maybe his obvious talent and ability did not shine at the afore-mentioned camps; he could have had the mumps, or been suffereing from stage fright.

Either way, I hope you are right and I am wrong, and he is indeed a good prospect. However, (bitter) past experience has taught me to tread warily when it comes to new fast bowling sensations from Pakistan

[Zainub]

Yasir Ali is one name I can never forget. He was the man standing at the other end when Inzi hit the winning runs in that epic game in Multan two years ago. In our great escape he played a small albeit unforgettable part, and for that I shall remain thankful to him for a long time. His bowling looked OK, and I would agree with M that he is still some way down the pecking order. Having said that taking ten wickets against a foreign side and helping your team win can only do good for his confidence. We are also scheduled to host the Australian A side in the near future and the South African Academy side is still around, so this little phase before the start of the domestic season will provide some good exposure for the fringe and up-and-coming players. The selectors and Bob, I'm sure are keeping an eye on this, who knows, a 15th or 16th place in the squad for the England series might be up for grabs. Hopefully the likes of Hasan Raza and others will take these chances to get them selves noticed. Opportunity doesn’t knock your door twice too often.

[Seamer]

I have always been amazed at Pakistans ability to produce so many fast bowlers yet so little quality spin bowlers (Since Quadir anyway) This seems to be at odds at what you would normally expect from teams from the subcontinent where spin seems to be so dominant. Why is this?

[Zainub]

Good question Seamer. I will try and answer that.

Imagine your self to be a young Pakistani kid with the ambition of playing for Pakistan, you would ask your self, "should I become the hardworking less famous, less glamorous, less earning spin bowler or should I become the fast bowling, fast speaking, much talked about, flamboyant and much paid quick bowler?" 7 kids out of ten would choose the later.

The likes of Imran, Wasim and Waqar have left such a legacy every one inspires to emulate them. We haven't had role models of the same caliber when it comes to spinners. Plus, they way our national selectors have treated some of out spinners, read POOR OLD Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed; it really doesn't give a lot of confidence to a young kid wanting to be a spinner.

[Seamer]

Yes but surely the wickets in Pakistan are favourable to spin bowlers. As not all kids have the physique for pace bowling, surely some turn their attentions to spin bowling and enjoy some measure of success.

[Maranello]

Seamer, I wouldn't say Pakistan has not produced any spin bowlers since Qadir. Mushtaq Ahmed was for a while a very good leg-spinner, as good as Qadir ever was. Similarly, Saqlain Mushtaq was a true revelation for his first years: a truly attacking finger-spinner who was always looking to take wickets. He was a pioneer in his art and the inventor of the doosra (minus the crocked elbow). The records list broken by the young Saqlain extends to many pages - he was the only spinner I know whose job in ODIs was to come on to bowl both in the first 15 overs, and in the last 10 overs; this he was able to do with an excellent temperament and an astute cricketing brain. Forget the paceman: this guy was for a while the most attacking bowler in our team.

Both Mushtaq and Saqlain were not able to realise their full potential and were a spent force before they turned 30, due to various injuries and some very arbitrary selection processes. In addition, the internal politics and instability that Pakistan cricket suffered from during the 1990s affected them too.

In addition, since then we have had Kaneria, who is one of the better young spinning prospects around. I haven't mentioned some other promising guys who never made it at the top level, since they remain 'unproven'. For instance, when Australia toured Pakistan in 1998, Mark Taylor was very impressed with the off-spinner Arshad Khan, saying what a pleasure it was to finally see a promising finger-spinner with an orthodox action and approach to the game - no doosras etc, just the normal stuff. Arshad played in just the final Test of that tour and picked up 5 wickets.

So I am not sure if we have done as badly as it appears; since the 1990s, we have had three very good spinners, namely Mushtaq, Saqlain and Kaneria. I don't think other countries in the region have done any better; for instance, in the same period, India have had two very good spinners, Kumble and Harbhajan, whilst Sri Lanka have had one very special one. Even world no1 Australia have had only three spinners of any note (Warne, May, McGill), though of course one of them has been an all-time great and that skews the picture somewhat!

All in all, our spin bowling cupboard is not that bare after all - in fact, we have done rather well, all things considered. Its just that the team as a whole has been rather inconsistent and ineffectual. Also, the speedsters do often take the limelight and the attention away from the slower men.