Click photo to enlarge
Waqar Younis takes a break from watching the action at the
University Oval yesterday. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Who could forget Waqar Younis running in from what seemed
like 100m and pulverising the stumps with 150kmh missiles?
Batsman barely had a chance with the ball bending through the
air and homing in on the base of the stumps.
Often, the best option was just to get the feet out of the
way.
Some even say he put the reverse in to swing.
As far as fast bowlers go, Younis was one of the greats.
And what a test record.
He played 87 matches from 1989 to 2003 and took 373 wickets
at an average of 23.56.
His record against New Zealand was even better: 70 wickets at
19.60.
So when he says 17-year-old Mohammad Aamer has the makings of
a good fast bowler, one tends to nod and agree.
The 40-year-old is in Dunedin working with the television
commentary team covering the test between New Zealand and
Pakistan and told the Otago Daily Times Aamer was very
talented.
"What we have seen from him is that he wants to do really
well at this level," Younis said.
"He looks very composed and he knows quite a lot about his
bowling. That is a sign of a good cricketer, a sign of a
cricketer who wants to go higher and higher. All he needs to
do to achieve that is stay fit and just keep doing what he is
doing."
Younis was also impressed with Shane Bond's return to test
cricket after a two-year absence.
Bond bowled a hostile second spell, taking three wickets in
10 balls, and finished with a five-wicket bag.
"It was good to see him getting five wickets in the first
innings and, once he gets his rhythm and a bit more bowling
under his belt, I think he'll be back in the game."
Younis lives in Sydney and been working as a commentator for
the past four years.
It saddens him international cricket has not been played in
Pakistan since the terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan team
bus in Lahore in March this year.
"It's big entertainment back home. We do miss cricket back
home, so hopefully things in north Pakistan will settle and
cricket can go back."
Reflecting on his illustrious playing career, Younis said New
Zealand's Martin Crowe was one of the toughest batsmen to pry
from the crease.
The great left-handers of his era also proved quite
resistant.
"It is tough to pick one. But I used to struggle a little bit
against the left-handers. The right-handers were a little
easier for me. If I had to pick two or three then it would
probably be Brian Lara, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist.
"I got them out a few times but when they got going it was
just really hard to bowl at them."
Younis had a fabulous on-field partnership with Wasim Akram.
The pair would rate alongside Courtney Walsh and Curtly
Ambrose, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, and Chaminda Vaas and
Muttiah Muralitharan as the very best bowling partnerships.
"We did have differences off the field, at times, but on the
field we were totally different and used to talk it out. That
really helped me. If he took four wickets I wanted to take
five. It was a healthy competition."
