[ Post New Message | Post Reply to this One | Send Private Email to Cathy | Help ]

Cricket

from Cathy (cathyvpreece@aol.com)

NatWest Challenge

England face quickest of the quick

Shoaib and Sami can secure series at The Oval

Mike Selvey
Friday June 20, 2003

The Guardian

Hang on to your hats and keep the Kennington fire brigade on standby, because today at The Oval Pakistan unveil what may be the fastest pair of bowlers ever to take the field.

Shoaib Akhtar is credited with bowling the first officially timed 100mph delivery - in Cape Town three months ago. Little more than a month later Mohammad Sami, playing in Sharjah and measured by two speed guns, ripped one down in excess of 97mph. For good measure he came close to repeating the feat at Old Trafford three days ago.

Both are very fast indeed - only Australia's Tintin look a like Brett Lee separates them in the official list - and both will be attempting to send the ball through the sound barrier today. The kings, Wasim and Waqar, are dead. Long live the kings.

Shoaib did not play in Tuesday's scrambling two-wicket win over England because of a ball-tampering ban but he will return today, presumably in place of Umar Gul. Even if his historic 100mph delivery was rather disappointingly turned round the corner for a single by Nick Knight, he has sent down several more spectacular balls in his time. No one who saw the New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming's leg stump uprooted during the 1999 World Cup match at Old Trafford can doubt Shoaib's capacity to be searing.

"I had a mission to cross the 100mph barrier," he has said. "God gave me that mission. God made me a fast bowler."

That quest may have been completed but if The Oval pitch regains some of its reputation for pace and bounce and he takes the new ball, the England openers Marcus Trescothick and Vikram Solanki may be in for a tough time.

Sami, meanwhile, impressed mightily as a junior partner at Old Trafford, a lissome young man of easy pace and with excellent control, the complete package not always associated with young fast bowlers. If he stays fit he is destined to be one of the greats. He is, the England captain Michael Vaughan admitted, extremely quick through the air and, because of his slight stature, a skiddy bowler.

The good sign, so far as England are concerned, is that bowlers of such speed can also fly for runs at the start of an innings, when the field is in and the ball hard. On that day in Cape Town Shoaib, puffing and blowing like a blacksmith's bellows, disappeared at seven an over and on Tuesday Sami, not having the best of luck admittedly, conceded 52 from his 10 overs.

Already England know that they are in for a tough fight against Pakistan. At Old Trafford all the advantage was the hosts' after they won the toss and batted first in a day-night match played on a pitch which deteriorated alarmingly, and England really should have won to go one up in the three-game series. That they came close was down to the efforts of their bowlers and fielders, and a certain amount of inappropriate strokeplay from Pakistan after Vaughan's superb run-out of Yousuf Youhana.

The Oval pitch promises to be much more conducive to playing strokes and, if Saqlain Mushtaq's experience for Surrey this season is anything to go by, less receptive to spin than it has been.

The toss will be less of an issue but England, should they bat first, are going to have to construct a total in excess of 280 and their junior members must show more fortitude, not least Solanki. The Worcestershire batsman has been given a second chance to establish a one-day career but did nothing on Tuesday to disprove a reputation for allowing his concentration to wander.

His 36 was the highest score of his nine-match career but the manner of his dismissal - hitting around a straight ball after being dropped by the bowler and hitting a six in the same over - was poor. "It was a missed opportunity," he confessed yesterday. "I got a good start but then got myself out without making it count." Chances do not come around for ever and the reputation remains a millstone.

There will be a temptation for the selectors to persist with the side that, they may think, came close to unseating Pakistan. There was always the feeling that, even on an Old Trafford surface the likes of which often see a niggling fifth bowler thrive, England were a front-line bowler short.

At The Oval, where there will be no respite in the field and batsmen ought to flourish, Vaughan needs a full armoury of specialist bowlers. To this end Rikki Clarke, who had a mixed debut, may have to stand down on his home ground to make way for another seamer.

There are three candidates: Steve Harmison, whose bounce and pace could be awkward, Kabir Ali, who bowled modestly in the middle of the Wales innings last week but better at the end, and James Kirtley. Kabir, who can also bat, looks the best bet.

Fastest bowlers

(in mph as measured by speed gun)

Shoaib Akhtar (Pak) 100.2
Brett Lee (Aus) 99.4
Mohammad Sami (Pak) 97.2
Nantie Hayward (SA) 95.9
Jason Gillespie (Aus) 95.6
Waqar Younis (Pak) 95.1
Allan Donald (SA) 95.0
Steve Harmison (Eng) 94.7
Makhaya Ntini (SA) 94.1
Shane Bond (NZ) 94.0
Darren Gough (Eng) 93.8

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

(posted 7588 days ago)

[ Previous | Next ]