Stephen Thorpe: Promising end of term report (15 August 1997)

Friday 15 August 1997

Promising end of term report

By Stephen Thorpe

PAKISTAN A`s six-week tour of the shires draws to a close today when a select XI culled from counties unemployed in the current championship round provide the opposition at Chelmsford.

The final four-day match is a further opportunity for several in the party to hasten their coming of age after an uncertain start bedevilled by all manner of strife.

Arriving without a scorer caused problems, then the vagaries of green wickets and a moving ball had to be addressed. Slow over rates, seemingly endemic on the subcontinent, and over exuberant appealing which bordered on intimidation were serious areas of concern for the smattering of interested spectators.

The squad, boasting an average age of 20, is an intriguing mix with five of the players taking time off school and a fair proportion having never featured in the first-class game before.

Of the rest, three are Test players: Mohammed Wasim, the captain, Salim Elahi and Hassan Raza, purportedly the world`s youngest Test cap and already hustled by agents. They are backed by four others who have featured in one-day internationals: Azhar Mahmood, the leading wicket taker, Mujahid Jamshed, Javed Qadeer and Abdul Razzak.

Raza has an attacking outlook and is arguably the best young player in Pakistan, Wasim excels through the on side with wristy panache and the wicketkeeper, Javed Qadeer, is a batsman very much in the Jack Russell mould, all grit and determination.

The personable coach, Azha Sahid, who had three years with Devon during the mid-1980s, reckons this is something of a third team, with a number of leading contenders otherwise engaged. Yet some of the tour party are surely destined for elevation, possibly during the forthcoming series against South Africa and West Indies. Shoaib Akhtar has real pace, modelling himself on Waqar Younis, and is rated by Martyn Moxon as "the quickest I`ve faced for a long time". The only pity is he has an approach more suited to a long-distance runner.

It is hard to imagine youth being flung so far in such a short time in England. The notion of an A-team tourist without firstclass experience is beyond far-fetched. Owais Shah and Ben Hollioake are departures from the norm but Pakistan are slaves to early exposure and driving ambition. No bad ethos at all.

Seven years ago, after John Crawley had figured prominently for England Young Cricketers against Pakistan, their manager, Majid Khan, was staggered when England`s winter Ashes party was announced and Crawley had been omitted.

"We put a premium on raw talent", affirms Zahid, "rather than condemning players to a treadmill, and they develop mental tenacity rapidly". While the tourists were perturbed at the second-hand pitch allocated to them at Headingley last week and results generally have been unexceptional, the outlook has remained buoyant. "They have adapted well to new demands and I`ve been very impressed with the overall attitude," says Zahid.

The Pakistan Cricket Board - and especially Majid Khan, who is now the chief executive - must take credit for seeking to create a strong infrastructure amid the constant turmoil and limited resources that make up Pakistani cricket.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/)