The McGrath of Sheikhupura, from Dawn

Inzamam’s gamble pays off well


By Kamran Abbasi


LONDON, Aug 17: There was plenty of gloom and drizzle at The Oval but Mohammad Asif shone like a star. Pakistan’s smiling, grimacing fast bowler roused his countrymen to rekindle the magic that had gone absent without leave.

That momentum was carried through into Pakistan’s reply with Imran Farhat striking an attacking half-century, as England first struggled with their line and then with their catching to leave Pakistan with a golden opportunity to win this Test.

Legs up to his armpits, wiry frame topped off by an unfashionable flop of hair, Asif enjoys drawing people into his beanpole world. Whether it is a lively debate with Inzamam-ul-Haq, his embattled leader, or Kamran Akmal, his embattled wicket-keeper, Asif is all facial expressions and gesticulating hands.

The run up is smooth and urgent, culminating in a pendulum-like delivery and metronome-like accuracy. His unbroken spell after lunch ripped the heart out of England's batting order, a line up that Pakistan had made look invincible before this Test.

By the time Asif, Pakistan's Glenn McGrath, had taken his fourth wicket of a world-class comeback England's quality had shrunk from invincible to invisible. Australia will presumably be enjoying England's misery, especially since they possess the real McGrath and not just his imitator.

First, the McGrath from Sheikhupura dismissed Andrew Strauss, who looked in fine touch. A late swinging delivery clipped the outside edge and produced an elegant diving catch from Kamran.

The next ball swung the other way and induced a drive and an exquisitely fine edge from England's danger man Kevin Pietersen. Darrell Hair, on a better day for umpires, raised his finger before Pietersen had time to point to his thigh. Paul Collingwood soon became Asif's third victim, leg before to an inswinger. In eleven deliveries Asif had taken three wickets for four runs. It was the kind of performance once taken for granted from Pakistani fast bowlers.

At the other end, Umar Gul bowled with precision to clean up England's tail in taking four wickets of his own. He will be on a hat-trick when he bowls his first ball in England's second innings.

In concert with Shahid Nazir, who proved that Headingley was no fluke, Pakistan's pacemen kept the pressure on England, bowling an excellent line that proved deadly once combined with conventional and reverse swing. Crucially, the four balls that Mohammad Sami and Abdul Razzaq offer up compulsively were a collector’s item.

Inzamam will be grateful for this performance. Under pressure to revive his side, Pakistan's skipper made the smart decision to bowl first, although Strauss would have batted first anyway. He juggled his bowlers well and had the thrill of seeing Danish Kaneria pick up a wicket as soon as he was brought on. This was certainly Inzamam's best day of the series — a day that arrived like an answered prayer to secure his hold on the captaincy.

Kamran’s prayers were answered too — mostly. Three catches will rebuild his confidence. He did receive some advice last week from Neil Burns, former gloveman for Essex and Leicestershire and confidant of Bob Woolmer.

Burns advised Kamran that in England the ball often moves late as it approaches the keeper. The reasons are twofold, one of which is simply the extra movement in this climate. The second is that English squares are built up above the level of the outfield which means that the ball hangs in the air for longer.

The answer, says Burns, who rates Kamran highly, is to watch the ball all the way into the gloves, a basic tenet of keeping but one that may cease to be habit on the wickets of Asia.

Kamran, to his credit, spent much of the day studiously watching each ball into his hands — except for his only major blemish, a missed stumping chance off Kaneria.

Yet even that failure or Younis Khan’s wicket were not enough to dampen Pakistan's spirits as they finished in command. The McGrath of Sheikhupura had already made sure of that.

Excellent article. I like the sarcastic remarks made towards Peterson and Hair.

in total agreement with regards to the article
however, Oxys remarks on Hair are more appropriate when he refers to him as Englands 12th man. Why beat around the bush when the obvious smacks you in the face

Great article. This part was too good:

I want Zainy now to come on and criticise Asif for being a boring bowler as he did McGrath.

I think it is bit dangerous to start calling him the Pakistani Mcgrath after just a handful of Tests.

Let him just be Muhammad Asif.

He was amazing against eng A in pak taking 10 wickets. He ripped apart the indian batting and simply annilihated the sri lankans at their home. The future is bright, the future is mohammad asif

16 of his 29 Test wickets have been LBW or bowled. It is early days and we have to see how he adapts to different conditions, but that statistic does confirm that he tends to bowl a full length. Fuller than many tall bowlers.

Please no comparisons! Asif to Mcgrath? pshth... Kahan McGrath aur Kahan Asif...

It will be interesting to see/know McGrath's figures after same number of tests

good read, but its unfair on asif to call him mcgraths imitator, cuz he isnt one.

Kamran Abassi putting in some fine articles this summer.

Spot on.I think we are also following footsteps of indian cricket fans.

Realy when he said this?

I dont know about comparisions .... but by jove!!!! You have a gem here....Asif has done enough to keep experts talking for years

McGrath's first 6 Test matches:

36 wickets @ 21.66, with 2 5w hauls.

Asif's first 5 Test matches: (-his 1st test)

25 wickets @ 16.48, with 2 5 wicket hauls.

Easa Yeah there,s no doubt about Asif,s talent but still long way to go for him.Mcgrath has played 119 tests.


These kind of comparisons only adds pressure on the new comers.

excellent article. Points out the facts

In a thread where he hailed Waqar and Wasim for being aggressive and called McGrath boring for being a line and length seam bowler. Now correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't asif probe away outside the offstump using the seam to dart it too and from the batsmen?

Even though I do not think Asif is boring, I'd watch him all day but still Rob I don't see where zain's saying that Mcgrath or even Asif is boring comes into all this. Being boring doesn't mean you do not succeed or succeeding does not mean you're not boring.

We do share traits with Indians - Alas

By our correspondent

LONDON: Mohammad Asif dealt England with a deadly blow on the opening day of the fourth Test on Thursday here at The Oval and then promised he would return in the second innings to finish off the job.

After getting a quartet of victims including the prized scalps of Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen, Asif made it clear he was already looking forward to better his opening day figures of 4-56 when the home team bat again in this Test.

“I am feeling good, my confidence is high after taking some good wickets and I can’t wait to bowl again in the (England) second innings,” the 23-year-old from Sheikhupura said after helping Pakistan skittled out England for 173.

Asif, whose Test career is still in quite a nascent stage, has assumed the role of the team’s pace spearhead ahead of the likes of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami.

The bowler’s absence from the first three Tests of this series is seen by many as one of the major reasons behind Pakistan’s below par showing in the contest in which they are 0-2 down. And his return to the line-up at The Oval turned out to be the start of a Pakistani revival in an otherwise frustrating series for the tourists.

Asif admitted he was under a lot of extra pressure because of the high expectations every one had in him. “Only I know how I managed to bowl the first two, three overs,” he said. “There was so much pressure on me. Thank God it all went well,” he added.

Asif took the field as Pakistan’s most successful bowler of the year with 25 wickets from five Tests. He came back after staying away from competitive cricket for several weeks because of an elbow injury but if that problem was still posing any kind of problems it didn’t show in the way he bowled on Thursday.

“I went out there fully aware that my team needed me. I bowled to a plan and though the wicket is good for batting, it helped me because there was some moisture in it.”

Asif bowled a 13-over first spell, quite a long one for a fast bowler but said he was feeling all right. “There is some stiffness but that’s normal since I am playing after quite a while.”

He got the wickets of three of England’s leading batters but said he enjoyed sending back Pietersen with a gem of a delivery. “I know he (Pietersen) likes to play his shots right from the start and so I tried bowling him one that he had to play. It worked.”

Asif was also pleased with the way his new-ball partner Umar Gul also kept picking wickets from the other end. “It always helps when your partner is also attacking from the other end,” he said.

But in the meantime, Asif is also hoping the fit-again duo of Shoaib Akhtar and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan would return to reinforce the Pakistani attack for the five-match ODI series against England getting underway from August 30 in Cardiff, saying, “Hopefully Shoaib and Rana would be back and that would further improve our attack.”

Asif is confident he would remain fit and in form in a bid to realise his biggest ambition: Emulating his idol Glen McGrath. “I know McGrath is a big name but I also want to be as big and as good as he is,” said Asif who has an action that resembles the Australian great, who, with 542 scalps, is world’s leading fast bowler with most number of Test wickets.


http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=20320

You can't compare Asif with McGrath. McGrath is a really big name!!!

Comparing Asif to Mcgrath at this stage is like comparing Pathan to Wasim. Let's wait and see first.

Rob, Asif is quite different to McGrath. I find McGrath pretty boring but I wont say the same about Asif. While McGrath attempts to get a batsman out but constantly probing away and exploiting weaknesses (most of the time anyway), its usually Asif's extravagent movement that gets him wickets. You dont see McGrath constantly jab the back in a mile, knocking over middle stump. Their line, length and pace might be comparable but their methods are not

I think you are under-estimating Mcgrath. Depending on the batsmen he bowls inswingers or outswingers. For someone like Dravid there is no use in probing the offstump! He would keep on leaving. You must bowl straight to Dravid no other way you are going to dismiss him. Mcgrath learnt that very quickly. Only guy i have seen Mcgrath struggled is against Laxman. He brought Mcgrath close to tears in kolkatta and in the end he started bowling almost 2 feet outside the offstump to Laxman. Eventually he got his wicket that way for 281!!

Dravid is a possible exception - I remember him getting him with a really good one that cut back in during the first test of the 2004 series in India. But How often do you see McGrath bowl deliveries like that? They are pretty rare, and Asif gets balls to cut back far more, much more frequently too. Besides, I've almost never seen McGrath swing the ball

McGrath has only recently started to swing the ball

For the large part of his career, he did not swing it

He swings when he needs to. I have seen him. He is "hit the deck" kind of bowler. When necessary he can scuff up the ball real hard and generate swing out of nowhere. We are all under the impression he only takes wickets caught behind or caught in the slips. 33% of his dismissals came through either leg before or bowled. He is a wily customer.

this just confirms that the entire argument was lost on rob

Another poster said it would be interesting to look at the stats after they both had played around 6 Tests.

Not comparing them by any means.

When he needs too. He did it i can count 6 times in the test in India as knew he'd need it. It's his suprise delivery. He did it to Vaughan in the Ashes last year and castled him (no ball though). Now you all must not watch McGrath enough to understand how good he is. Everyone says he bowls line and length again and again when actually he mixes it up brilliantly.

Still a long way to go for Mo Asif. McGrath is THE best bowler today and has played 119 tests (and has 542 wickets). Asif is just beginning his career and will have to be consistent to be called the 'McGrath of Shiekhpura'

Spot on. He is a genius when it comes to discovering a weakness. He knows the exact right time to pounce and use the right type of ball to get the batsmen. I think it's all sour grapes.

Sour grapes? This aint no winery

What are we sour about exactly?

Comparing Asif to McGrath does no justice to anyone - especially Asif.

1. McGrath has over 500 wkts over many years, and to compare someone who has played only 5 matches is ridiculous. I wish our fans would stop making fools of themselves by calling him the new McGrath.

2. Asif actually has more tools in his armoury. He can swing it both ways with the new ball - Mcgrath has never been known as a swing bowler. He can cut the ball either way - and gets more exaggerated movement than Mcgrath. He reverse swings the ball both ways aswell. In actual fact Asif is potentially much, much better than Mcgrath - and without a doubt more exciting to watch.

It could well be that 15 years from now when analysing both their careers it will be argued that Mcgrath was a poor man's Asif. However, comparisons at this stage are of no use.

I find Asif quite different to Mcgrath.

Anyhow Asif understands what he's doing and that helps when it comes to getting wickets.

England would probably have lost more early wickets if they had right handers at the top.

McGrath can swing and cut a cricket ball, old or new, just fine.

Oh and here's a video for anyone who doubts that.

Plenty of examples of swing in there amongst McGrath losing his temper, some dodgy decisions and Lara leading the Windies to victory. Try 1:33 and 7:11.

Errm, Billy?

Where is the video you speak about?

The word "video" is a link!

Although this board doesn't seem to show links that well.

I am not sure why people are trying to present McGrath as a swing bowler. Yes now that he has lost a bit of pace he swings the new ball a bit and occassionaly attains reverse swing.

But he is really a seam bowler and that is how he takes most of his wickets, by seam movement not swing.

Yes...?

I'm not saying he's a great swing bowler. I'm just saying that, to claim Asif can swing the ball and McGrath cannot, is a bit of an insult to a great bowler.

My understanding is that some people are saying that Asif swings the ball more than McGrath (probably because he pitches the ball up more). Ian Chappell said the same thing in Sri Lanka. That is not the same as saying McGrath cannot swing it.

At any rate the overall point being made is that you should not call Asif the Pakistani Mcgrath because 1) one is a great bowler and one has only played a handful of Tests; 2) there are differences in their bowling styles.

Thanks for a great link. I thoroughly enjoyed Lara's masterpiece. Mcgrath's bowling was good but he got a couple of dubious lbw decisions go in his favor. But I would say that Asif, if he continues to bowl like he has in the last 3-4 tests, then he can be a greater bowler than Mcgrath.