Aamir’s great landmark almost went unnoticed
MELBOURNE: A piece of cricket history almost passed by without notice amid all the drama during fourth day of the first Test between Australia and Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday.
When 17-year-old Pakistani firebrand Mohammad Aamir had Aussie wicket-keeper Brad Haddin caught behind, he became the youngest fast bowler to claim a five-wicket Test haul.
Aamir’s Boxing Day Test bagful of 5-79 was probably worth much more on a flat and dead pitch that made fast bowling a nightmare.
Just imagine if the kid were bowling his 152km/h thunderbolts at the Gabba or the WACA? There probably would have been blood on the pitch.
Aamir is just what the cricket world needs at a time when it is crying out for fresh faces and an emerging crop of fast bowling superstars.
From a frontier town in the north-west province of Pakistan, Aamir used to catch a donkey cart to a nearby village where a car would take him to training.
His love of cricket took off at an early age. When he was six he used his broken school clipboard as a bat and a taped ball as a bowling weapon.
Aamir is a confident kid and full of flair, as he showed when he cheekily poked his tongue out at Shane Watson during a fierce bumper battle.
Wearing a white headband like Dennis Lillee, Aamir is seriously quick and, like all quality fast bowlers, has some mongrel in him.
He loves a prolonged glare at a batsman, in much the same way his idol Wasim Akram could turn nasty.
Aamir has a long way to go to match Wasim, who took 414 Test wickets in a career that saw him terrorise the world’s best batsman for 17 years.
But Aamir has already beaten Wasim in one area. He was aged 17 years and 157 days when he savoured his five-wicket haul at the MCG on Tuesday.
Wasim was the grand old age of 18 years and 251 days when he went on his first five-wicket Test spree, in 1985 against New Zealand in Dunedin
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