In his latest exclusive blog entry on PakPassion.net, ex Pakistani paceman Mohammed Zahid expresses his concerns on the lack of new Fast bowling talent from Pakistan

By Mohammed Zahid (15th October, 2012)

Pakistan is a proud cricketing nation and over the years our pride has been the number of high quality fast bowlers we have been able to produce. The list is a long one, a famous one and one full of names that just flow from the lips of cricket lovers around the world. When I say fast bowlers, I don’t mean your medium fast bowlers or your dibbly dobbly medium pacers, what I am talking about are your out and out 90mph plus bowlers whose strength is raw pace. Our cricketing reputation is one that is based upon producing the best fast bowlers in the world and that reputation is in trouble. 

However it pains me to admit this but over the course of time, our fast bowling resources have gone from being our strength, to now being our weakness. I watched the World T20 with interest and watched our fast bowlers struggle match after match, resulting in the captain only entrusting the fast bowlers with a couple of overs per match. However it’s not just about the twenty over format that my concerns are based upon. In all formats of cricket our fast bowling resources have almost completely dried up and it concerns me to see the same mediocre bowlers being given chance after chance for Pakistan, instead of fresh and young blood being introduced.

I don’t mean to be disrespectful to the likes of Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman and Raza Hasan, as all three in my mind are excellent bowlers and have wonderful variety, but Pakistan’s over reliance on spin is becoming a huge concern. Where our fast bowlers ruled, nowadays our fast bowlers have become also rans.

I don’t for a moment believe that there are no young fast bowlers in Pakistan, that is simply not possible. My concern however is that where are these young fast bowlers disappearing to and why aren’t they making their way to international cricket. What is happening to these fast bowlers once they start playing Under 19 and junior cricket and why are so few of them performing to their optimum ability and making it to first class cricket and then onto international cricket. Why are so many of these boys disappearing down this “black hole”.

Fast bowling in Pakistan needs a revival, it needs a kick start, there needs to be a rethink and a reassessment of coaching methods and also the issue of the scouting network needs to be re-examined. I am certain that fast bowlers are not coming through the ranks in the numbers that they should be coming through and how they used to come through in the past. In my day when I was playing first class cricket, every team had at least a couple of tearaway fast bowlers, nowadays you will be lucky to find a couple in the whole of the first class system. Where is this talent disappearing and why is not being picked up by the regional selectors. There has to be a proper scouting network set up by the PCB to identify young talent from schools cricket and ensure that talent is then nurtured through to Under 19 cricket, then to first class cricket and then onto international cricket. At the moment far too many quick bowlers are missing the boat and not being identified by the scouts and coaches around Pakistan.

I don’t trust this “talent hunt” system that the PCB is throwing all it’s energy into. There used to be these very same talent hunts in my day too and very rarely did any talent actually get identified. What they should be doing is sending their scouts and coaches out all over Pakistan to watch schools cricket, under 15 cricket and identifying the talent at a young age and then ensuring that talent is monitored regularly, coached properly and it becomes part of the system and the PCB database. Too often young cricketers are just being lost to a system which is outdated and based on luck and also based upon ex players stumbling across exceptional cricketers by chance. 

Pace is an asset as a bowler, if you have pace you can learn the technical aspects later as and when you start playing Under 19 and first class cricket. Most of our great fast bowlers were raw when they started, but they had pace. I’m struggling to comprehend where the young fast bowlers in Pakistan are being sent and why they are not appearing in first class cricket.

The Pakistani think tank needs to address this issue of the dearth of quick bowlers and look at why we are reliant upon bowlers who are barely medium fast and who are not going to frighten any of the opposition batsmen, or on bowlers like Mohammad Sami who are quick but have absolutely no control and never will have that control. It’s actually embarrassing that as a cricketing nation we did not have one single reliable out and out fast bowler recently in Sri Lanka.

Looking ahead, I’ve seen a couple of young fast bowlers who I believe have the potential to serve Pakistan well. One I feel is ready for international cricket and that is Rahat Ali. Rahat needs some opportunities and I think it was disgraceful the way he has been excluded after just one international match where he only bowled 4 overs. The other is another left arm pace bowler who I was very impressed with at the Under 19 world cup and that is Zia ul Haq who I think could be ready to play for Pakistan sooner rather than later. Both of these bowlers have pace and with some slight adjustments and hard work they could be exactly what Pakistan is lacking at the moment.

I think the selectors made a huge mistake at the World T20 in picking Mohammad Sami and just warming the bench for the entire tournament. What was the point of taking Mohammad Sami who has had countless chances for Pakistan and has failed to impress or improve? If the selectors wanted to take someone to carry the drinks and just for the chance to experience a high profile tournament like the World T20, then why not take Zia ul Haq or Rahat Ali so that they could have got some experience of being part of a squad at an international tournament. You do not become a great bowler overnight, you need exposure, you need to be part of a squad, you need to be involved, you need to learn and watch other good bowlers. Or if the selectors really had picked players on ability and capability and form then Junaid Khan should have been selected for the World T20. To leave Junaid back in Pakistan for the World T20 was a travesty.

The lack of role models in Pakistan cricket particularly for the upcoming fast bowlers is a concern but not a valid excuse. For spinners you have Saeed Ajmal, for Test batsmen you have the likes of Misbah ul Haq, but there is no focal point, no role model for Pakistani bowlers at the moment like there was in years gone by. Having said that though that is not an excuse as there are other great bowlers around the world like Dale Steyn who our Pakistani boys can watch and learn from. 

Pakistan’s new bowling coach Mohammad Akram has a huge task ahead of him, a very important task also. He needs to have some clear objectives and I certainly hope that his remit is not where he is just working with the international bowlers. I hope he gets his “hands dirty” and works with bowlers in domestic cricket, bowlers at Under 19 level and even younger. Akram has a lot of experience of playing cricket around the world and has been coached by some very good coaches. I hope he makes good use of that experience and passes on that experience particularly to the upcoming talent in Pakistan. Akram needs to be the catalyst for the revival of fast bowling in Pakistan, he needs to be the one who drives it forward with help from the Pakistan Cricket Board. He needs to be working with and developing bowlers at all levels and it needs to be a long term plan rather than a short term one.

Moving onto the selectors and what I feel is happening in Pakistan at the moment is that there is a quota system in place. What I mean by a quota system is that the selection committee selects players to keep all of the regions happy and not to upset any of the regions meaning that players from all or most of the regions are selected. You cannot be the best side in the world if your selectors are adopting a quota system. If you want to be the best you have to select players on merit, not based on a cross section of the regions. If it means that there are no players from some regions, then so be it. If it means that some regions have more players than others, then so be it. Pick the best players, don’t pick players to keep influential individuals in Pakistani cricket happy.

Discuss!