Simon Hughes
The Analyst
DaviD RogeRs/Julian Finney/getty images/HawkeyeIf you tour around the cities of
Pakistan you will invariably see
wiry, athletic youths tearing in
to bowl a taped-up tennis ball on
concrete paddocks, their shalwar
kameez flapping behind them like
a comet’s tail. They bowl as fast as
they can and they only know two
lengths – very short or very full –
like many of their recent heroes- Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and
Shoaib Akhtar.
Mohammad Abbas, Pakistan’s
newest opening bowler, belongs to a
different generation, one that prides
subtlety over speed. Abbas was
virtually unknown when he arrived
in the UK (though not in Pakistan,
where he has taken 310 wickets at
the remarkably low average of 20).
The 28-year-old daintily caught
Ireland unawares in their debut
Test match, instantly reducing them
to 7 for 4 and finishing with nine
wickets in the match. England did
not entirely know what to expect at
Lord’s either, and by the time they
realised he had an innate ability
to zip the ball past their inside or
outside edges from a perfect length
they were 184 all out and he had
taken 4 for 23.
Of negligible pace and with a
rather loping, ungainly run-up
he is an old-fashioned exponent
of line and length importantly
accessorised by a very supple wrist.
This naturally imparts backspin on
the ball, helping the seam to stay
upright and grip on the surface.
Watching him dart the ball this way
Mohammad Abbas – the closest
thing there is to Alec Bedser?
Below
Jos Buttler took
a stride out of his
crease, and Keaton
Jennings lined up
in front too
Abbas is hard
to play because
batsmen aren’t
sure how to line
him up. Is he an
inswing bowler or
mainly a seamer?
and that at 78mph with basically
a leg-cutter’s action, he is the
closest thing I’ve seen to what the
legendary Alec Bedser was probably
all about.
From close to the stumps, Abbas
generally releases the ball with a
hint of inswing but also spreads
his fingers wider and holds the ball
looser to propel the wobble-seam
delivery – perfected by his former
Sialkot team-mate Mohammad
Asif (he of no-ball fixing fame).
This habitually jags away from the
right-hander like a fast leg-cutter.
He is one of those bowlers who is
hard to play because he doesn’t
fit into any obvious category. Is
he an inswing bowler or mainly a
seamer? Batsmen aren’t quite sure
how to line him up. There is a littlebit of Pakistan’s father of swing
and seam, Sarfraz Nawaz, about
him. Like Sarfraz, his wrist action
imparts an audible fizz on the ball
which I could hear as I stood next to
the Pakistan bowling coach Azhar
Mahmood in practice.
His control at Lord’s was
immaculate. He rarely strayed from
a perfect full length, attacking
the stumps. He persuaded the
ball this way and that and snared
five England batsmen leg before,
becoming only the fourth bowler in
Test history to take five lbws in two
successive Tests. As the others were
Terry Alderman, Waqar and Murali,
he was in excellent company. He was
man of the match in Pakistan’s win,
though, as he confessed himself,
his two four-wicket hauls were
unfortunately not enough to get on
the famous honours boards.
He had caught England unawares,
but at Headingley they were ready
for him. Fortified by Jos Buttler’s
method of walking up the pitch
towards him at Lord’s, all the
batsmen stood out of their crease
to Abbas at Leeds, and that threw
him off his stride. His control was
disrupted, he was forced to bowl
shorter and then over-compensated
offering up a few half-volleys. He
went wicketless until the 89th
over of the innings. England had
effectively nullified his threat. But,
with the lowest Test average (42
wickets at 17) of any current bowler,
he will need careful monitoring by
the batting brotherhood.MohaMMad abbas lengtHs bowleD in tHe 1st test at loRD’s86 | thecricketer.com