Pakistan’s legendary Bowling attack, England next
Pakistani cricket has a habit of producing very skilled fast bowlers. Over the years the country has produced some of the best bowlers ever seen in the game of cricket. There are many factors and reasons for why the country can continuously churn out bowlers that are capable of bowling at 90mph and after defeating Australia recently because of their bowling attack, the team has their eyes set on England. The English team are going to be a great match for the bowling prowess of Pakistan though because they are very much in form these days and it looks all set to be one h**l of an encounter.
A lot has been written about Pakistan’s ability to produce fast bowlers, former cricketers Imran Khan and Aqib Javaid have both given lots of theories but there seems to be some mysterious element which allows the country to give the world of cricket fast bowler after fast bowler. If we start at the beginning we find that Pakistan produced quick bowlers as early as the 50s with Fazal Mahmood who took 139 wickets in his illustrious career. After him in the 60s we find the speedy Asif Masood and leading on from Masood was the great Sarfaraz Nawaz who is known as the inventor of reverse swing. In the 80s and 90s, Pakistan produced one of the greatest all-rounders of his time, a man who led Pakistan to its first and only World Cup win, Imran Khan. He was and still is the poster boy for fast bowling and inspired a whole generation of Pakistanis to follow in his footsteps. After Imran, the world saw, what was arguably the most famous fast bowling duo of all time, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.
Looking to modern times, inspired by the two Ws, Pakistani bowlers started to come out of the woodwork; Shoaib Akhter, the fastest bowler at one time, Mohammad Asif and the newest bowler in the team, the very impressive Mohammad Aamer have all been recent finds.
There are a number of theories as to why Pakistan is able to produce so many quality fast bowlers. An interesting fact of the matter is that Pakistan’s neighbouring country, India, with which it shares a similar climate, similar body shape and similar culture, has failed to produce even one very quick bowler. A study into this phenomenon of producing fast bowlers has found a number of factors that when taken together bring about ideal conditions for fast bowlers coming into a cricket team. Some of them are farfetched but taken together they all contribute something to the final product. The first factor is physique; fast bowlers are of a certain body type, broad shoulders and tall. Along with this are two more factors, aggression and the consumption of red meat. Even though a vegetarian is just as capable of being aggressive but the combination of aggression, meat eating and a powerful physique all contribute heavily to making fast bowlers. The final element in the equation is having role models. Pakistani children have their pick of fantastic role models to pick from. The one bowler who had it all and who children dream of becoming is Imran Khan. He had the speed, the accuracy, the good looks and the high flying career. He is in some senses the perfect role model for the future fast bowler.
Pakistani bowlers are also masters of the reverse swing, pioneered as mentioned above by the great Sarfaraz many years ago. It seems because the practise was invented in Pakistan, Pakistani bowlers have a natural tendency to swing the ball, much to the annoyance of the world’s batsmen. In the 1970s, Sarfaraz passed the techniques of swing bowling onto Imran Khan who in turn passed it onto Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. From there it has spread to the entire Pakistani bowling camp. Reverse swing is done when the ball swings outwards from the batsman and then suddenly swings into him giving it an S shaped trajectory in the air. The current Pakistani bowling duo, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer have both been known to get the ball to swing wildly during matches.
Even though Paul Collingwood has recently stated that England is not scared of Pakistan’s bowling attack and his team is ready for anything they throw at them, maybe he should be careful in his predictions. Pakistan is one of the most unpredictable sides and sometimes shows flashes of brilliance and other times falls flat to the ground. If their bowling attack shines, then England will have something to really worry about. If not, then England can easily take advantage of Pakistan’s weak batting line up and dictate the match that way. Whatever happens, it is going to be a fantastic test match and all of Pakistan’s fans and some English fans as well will be on the lookout for that deadly reverse swing to make an appearance.
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