COLOMBO, 16 May 2003 — Star Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar is not feeling the pressure in the triangular one-day cricket series despite being threatened with the ax, skipper Rashid Latif said.
“I don’t think he (Akhtar) is feeling any pressure in this series. Other players have taken the pressure off him,” Latif said here yesterday.
Akhtar, one of the fastest pacemen in the world, was warned by his country’s cricket chief Tauqir Zia that the Sri Lankan tri-series would be the last chance to revive his career.
He was one of the eight players dropped after Pakistan’s early exit from the recent World Cup in South Africa before being recalled.
The fast bowler responded well in his first match of the current series, grabbing two crucial wickets for 19 runs in eight overs to set up his team’s 79-run victory over Sri Lanka.
Akhtar, 27, bowled well in the second game also, against New Zealand, but failed to get a wicket.
“He has bowled impressively in both the matches and proved that he is still one of the best strike bowlers in the world,” said Latif of Akhtar, who has been dogged by bowling rows, injuries and disciplinary problems.
“This tour could be the turning point of his career,” said Latif.
“He is a match-winner and we’d like him to keep a low profile. We’ve told each player not to fear failure, but to play positive and competitive cricket. So I don’t think he (Akhtar) is under pressure to deliver.”
Akhtar, dubbed the ‘Rawalpindi Express’, also gave a good account of himself as a batsman, top-scoring with 27 in his team’s seven-wicket defeat against New Zealand.
Akhtar, who twice broke the 100-mph barrier, has so far taken 135 wickets in 83 One-Day Internationals.
Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka each have recorded one win in two matches of the current series.
The second-leg of three preliminary league matches opens on Sunday at Dambulla with a game between Pakistan and the hosts.
The final between the top two teams will be played at the same venue on May 23.
Vermeulen Makes Sussex Suffer
In Hove, England, Zimbabwe opener Mark Vermeulen took full advantage of a second-string Sussex attack to make an unbeaten 194 yesterday.
On the opening day of their final match before next week’s first Test against England at Lord’s, Zimbabwe closed on 317 for four.
Vermeulen, 24, who stands 6ft 4 inches tall, batted for six hours with his 150 featuring 24 fours and a six to leave the tourists firmly in charge of this four-day fixture.
It was a commanding innings by Vermeulen whose future as a professional cricketer was thrown into doubt two months ago when a bouncer from teammate Travis Friend fractured his skull during net practice at the World Cup in South Africa.
“It went through the visor and cracked my skull, there is still a loose piece of bone floating around in there,” Vermeulen said. “It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced.”
His injury forced Vermeulen to miss the Super Six stage of the World Cup and the subsequent Sharjah one-day tournament.
But there was little danger of a repeat against a Sussex attack lacking pacemen James Kirtley and Robin Martin-Jenkins.
Pakistan leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed was also out of the Sussex line-up as once again an English county team refused to put its best team up against a touring side.
England are due to name their squad for the first Test, which starts at Lord’s on May 22, on Saturday.
The second and final Test of the series, which begins on June 5, will be the first to be staged at Durham’s Riverside Ground.
Group to Discuss Decline
in Indian Spin Bowling
In Calcutta, eleven Test spinners will meet on May 30 to discuss ways to reverse the decline in quality spin bowling in India, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said yesterday.
Leg spinner Anil Kumble will be the only current bowler to take part.
“Spin bowling appears to be a decaying art today,” said BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya. “In the past, the strength of spin bowling helped India win so many matches.
“But the performance of spinners with the exception of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh leaves much to be desired.”
Dalmiya said the BCCI would follow up the meeting by opening a section for spin bowlers in the National Cricket Academy.
England’s Flintoff an Injury
Doubt for Zimbabwe Test
England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff is doubtful for next week’s first Test against Zimbabwe after suffering a compressed nerve in his shoulder, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced on Wednesday.
Flintoff will undergo further Tests later this week after being ruled out of Lancashire’s county championship match against Essex at Old Trafford, which started on Wednesday.
No decision has yet been made on whether he will be available for Lancashire’s National League match against Hampshire at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Flintoff, who has played 21 Tests for England, scored a century in Lancashire’s last championship match against Middlesex before he was forced off with his shoulder injury later in the match.
England are already without all-rounder Craig White, who has been sidelined for around three months after undergoing surgery on a rib injury, for the first Test against Zimbabwe that starts next Thursday at Durham.
England play two Tests against Zimbabwe this year, followed by five against the South Africans.
Gooch, Almost 50,
Back in Action
In Manchester, England, former England captain Graham Gooch, who will be 50 in two months time, was pressed into emergency action as a substitute fielder for Essex against Lancashire here at Old Trafford yesterday.
Despite retiring seven years ago, Essex coach Gooch was called into action when Scott Brant went off injured with sore shins.
With teammate and England prospect Will Jefferson already in the dressing room on the second day of this county championship match having twisted a knee on Wednesday, it meant Gooch had to come on.
Known as one of the fittest players of his generation, former opening batsman Gooch — who first played at Old Trafford in 1974 — was on the field for seven overs, showing his team the way with an impressive stint at short midwicket to spinners James Middlebrook and Paul Grayson.
