by Nimra Ishtiaq (19th August 2011)

Pakistani cricketers have been a popular choice in County cricket in England this summer, with Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Yasir Arafat, Wahab Riaz and Junaid Khan amongst those handpicked for the County circuit. 

Inexperienced 21-year old left arm pacer Junaid Khan was a surprise choice by Lancashire, but made an instant impact with his impressive bowling performances for the Manchester based County primarily in the Friends Life Twenty20 competition helping Lancashire reach the upcoming Finals Day in Birmingham.

PakPassion.net recently caught up with former England and current Lancashire Coach, Peter Moores for his thoughts on Junaid Khan’s performance in his first season of county cricket.

It was rather surprising how Junaid – a relatively new name on the international cricket scene was signed by such a high profile and formidable Lancashire side. Recalling how Junaid came to his notice, Moores stated, “I hadn’t seen him bowl live, but I had seen some footage of his bowling. He was definitely on the radar especially with his impressive statistics and just before coming to Lancashire, he also got 4-12 in one of the ODIs against Ireland in Belfast.”

“All his statistics looked very good and of course we also had a strong recommendation from Wasim Akram, who is an ex-Lancashire player, and obviously one of the best left-armers there has ever been. So it was a very strong recommendation to have and that was very important for me and Mike Watkinson."

Moores further added, “When we got Junaid, we expected him to be talented. We didn't know him as a person, but all the reports about Junaid on and off the field were of him being exemplary and he lived up to that billing."

Junaid, the first international cricketer from Swabi has played a key role in the Red Rose County’s Friends Life Twenty20 campaign, bagging 12 wickets in 8 matches at an average of 15.50. He has primarily featured in twenty-over matches although he has played a handful of forty-over matches and a four-day game as well. According to Moores, the County partly kept Khan away from the longer version of the game in order to keep him ‘fresh’ for the Twenty20 and forty-over matches. 

Moores explained, “When Junaid joined us he played in a four day game and then the Twenty over matches started. We wanted to keep him fresh for the Twenty20 matches. We already had a strong outfit of bowlers in our LV County Championship side who were performing well already and we didn't really want to disturb that – and Junaid understood that. So all in all, it worked well.”

“Also If I’m being honest here, I’d like to have seen Junaid play a bit more in the County Championship and seen how he got on. The skills that Junaid has got he'd have to adapt his skills a little bit because the bowling conditions in England are quite different. Sometimes bowlers come from the sub-continent and it takes them a bit of time to adjust to bowling in England. The same thing goes for the English bowlers when they go to the sub-continent,” he continued.

Being a vastly experienced coach, it did not take long for Moores to identify the strengths and weaknesses of Junaid as a fast bowler. Highlighting the strengths, Moores stated, “Junaid’s real strength is that he is very skilful. He bowls at a steady pace and is whippy. He also comes across as a very natural cricketer. He understands the game – he understands the field he should set tactically in accordance with what he will bowl. For one day cricket, he can reverse swing the ball both ways, and he’s got the perfect go-to ball in one day cricket which is the yorker. Because he’s not that tall, he uses that to his advantage as he gets that delivery underneath the batsman. In one day cricket, the Yorker is a fantastic weapon and he's tactically very astute.”

“The 21-year old knows what he wants to do and how he wants to do it. He also seems a very grounded young man and that is important especially if he becomes successful international. He will need that grounding and it's important he speaks to the right people in future too, people like Wasim (Akram) who will give him good advice in future. What Junaid has at the moment is excellent but he can also develop that and move forward so that he is successful in different parts of the world."

Identifying the areas Junaid needs to work on, Moores said “Junaid has good control, he just has to do a bit more work. I think in England, what most bowlers have to do is to change their wrist position slightly so you come over the top of the ball a little more, so they can move the ball around a little bit more."

"You also have to learn how to swing both ways with the red ball – Junaid has done that with the white ball. You just need to adjust a little bit how you go about what you do, and I think Junaid will do that. We’ve seen a lot of cricketers rise – we saw Zaheer Khan come over and perform well at Worcester and develop his skills with time.”

“Junaid doesn’t need to change his bowling a lot because he’s already a very fine bowler. All he needs to do is adapt what he’s already got.”

Moores was handed the responsibility of revitalizing English cricket after the team’s abysmal show at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. He coached England until 2009 and remains a distinguished name in the field of coaching.

PakPassion.net sought his opinions on whether Junaid Khan can cut it in all three formats of the game in the international arena. A convinced Moores stated, “I think so. As I said, Junaid is a very natural cricketer. When you are a natural bowler, it takes a lot less out of you physically as compared to someone who is a manufactured bowler. His action is nice and relaxed and that will serve him very well and will help him keep fit and strong."

“He also comes across as somebody who really loves the game. So I am sure he’d want to play in all three forms of cricket. His record in First Class cricket suggests that he must be fit enough and good enough to play in all formats,” he continued.

“His natural skills lean towards one day cricket at the moment and that's where he has been exposed internationally, but I think he would want to get in the Test side and I’m sure he can also perform at that level,” he concluded.