Riaz expresses hope that fellow paceman can banish fixing cloud with a five-wicket haul
London: Mohammad Amir was back bowling at Lord’s for the first time in six years this week with his Pakistan team-mates saying he is “ready for anything” and backing him to take five wickets this week to silence talk of his spot-fixing crimes.
When he first returned to the Pakistan set-up last year, several teammates refused to train with Amir – such was their anger at the shame he brought on his country and the former captain Ramiz Raja said yesterday that players felt “cheated” by his actions.
But they have since rallied around Amir, who has shown remorse for his crimes, and clearly realise how valuable his bowling is to the team.
Amir bowled in the nets at the Nursery End on Tuesday morning, his first visit to Lord’s since he left ‘the home of cricket’ in disgrace in 2010 with the Metropolitan Police investigating the spot-fixing conspiracy.
Приняты земельные отношения в Украине. Изменения земельного законодательств. Аренда земли в Украине.
Wahab Riaz, his fellow left-arm fast bowler, said: “Everybody is supportive of Mohammad Amir, no one is reluctant, we all take him as our young brother and he is a part of our family. Everybody is supporting him and we are all behind him. He is ready for everything. If you make a mistake it doesn’t mean that you are out of this world and people will keep blaming you for that.
“Once he has done his punishment then it is a new life for him and he is ready to have a go again. What has happened has gone now, it has gone a long time ago now so I think the best thing is that he can perform well and I want him to take five wickets in this Test match to get his name back and to get his image back which has been spoiled and I wish him all the best to win this Test for Pakistan.”
Riaz is one of the survivors from the 2010 tour and was furious to be caught in the crossfire of the spot-fix scandal. He was famously photographed by the News of the World wearing a jacket containing pounds 10,000 the newspaper had paid to Mazher Majeed, the agent at the centre of the fixing ring.
Majeed bragged to the newspaper that Riaz was one of the players he represented in the team. Riaz was questioned by police but denied Majeed was his agent and has never been accused or found guilty of any corruption offence. “We have a firm belief in Allah in our religion, Islam. When you have done nothing wrong, no one can pinpoint you out. I was not worried. Seeing a picture never tells you the story,” he said.
Relations between the two teams disintegrated after the spot-fix story broke and worsened during the one-day series that followed, culminating in a bust-up in the Lord’s nets between Riaz and England batsman Jonathan Trott.
Since then the teams have played two Test series in the UAE which have passed without any major incident – apart from one flashpoint between Riaz and Joe Root in Dubai. But it is more likely to become heated over the next few weeks if this series is close and the chances are Riaz could be at the centre of any controversy.
He has the classic fast bowler’s temperament and at last year’s World Cup bowled a ferocious spell to Shane Watson after the Australian had sledged him in the field. Both players were fined.
“He [Trott] was a bit rude and when it comes to being rude you can never beat the Pakistanis on it. We are the most rude when it comes to it. We are nice but if somebody is rude we won’t spare it,” said Riaz.
“He was a bit rude, he was angry, he was not scoring runs, he was getting out early in the ODIs – he was doing well in the Tests. It was a frustration he tried to take out on me. It’s gone now. Live in the present, past gone.”
Riaz bowled better than his figures suggested in the Test series against England last October. He summoned up the physical strength to bowl 90 miles/h spells in the heat of the Gulf and bowled a match-winning spell in the second Test in Dubai so the focus on Amir could be misplaced. He has already indulged in some mind games on this trip, saying last week that he has plans for Root, and believes the lack of experience in England’s middle order is their weak point.
“We are not worried about what England has picked or they haven’t picked. The only thing we know is that England is a good team in their home conditions. They have lost a few players in the middle order, which always put the pressure on the England side,” he said. “Obviously it’s not going to be that experienced as when we have played them before. So it will be a struggle for the England team. We will make sure that we get both Cook and Root out so that we can put the pressure on the middle order.
“Good players can perform on the day – sometimes they don’t – so we will see how it goes.”
Teams and officials for the first Test between England and Pakistan at Lord’s on Thursday:
England: Alastair Cook (capt), Alex Hales, Joe Root, James Vince, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow (wkt), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, Jake Ball
Pakistan (probable): Mohammad Hafeez, Shan Masoud, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmad (wkt), Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Sohail Khan, Yasir Shah