On the weekend I witnessed one of the grittier battings displays in this World Cup. No, it wasn’t the gutsy effort of Kane Williamson or of Brad Haddin in the Auckland cliffhanger, or Joe Root for England.
It was the determined performance of Zimbabwe to get within 20-odd runs of Pakistan.
The minnows of Zimbabwe put up a courageous display against one of the sport’s giants. And I don’t just mean Pakistan the team – Pakistan’s bowling was spearheaded by their own flesh and blood giant, Mohammed Irfan, whose performance brought back memories of the great West Indian, Joel Garner.
How could I write so glowingly of Zimbabwe when they just managed to score over 200? It was the quality of the bowling which for a brief moment reminded me of some of the great Pakistan teams of the past.
Pakistan have always been my favourite ‘other’ team. I am not really sure why but I suspect it is because over the years they have always managed to produce quirky, talented cricketers who never quite fit the mould.
I can remember the Pakistan team who toured Australia in the early 1970s with the master batsman Zaheer Abbas. In the pre-helmet era, a batsman with spectacles was something you didn’t see every day.
That team also included the fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz with the great curved, stuttering runup. Another favourite of mine was Intakhab Alam, the ‘burly’ spin bowler who didn’t necessarily fit the athletic mould of cricketer in vogue these days.
Then of course was the phenomenal batting talent that was Asif Iqbal. I have fond memories of Iqbal accumulating runs while chasing down a total playing for the World XI in the World Series days. He practically defined the role of the ‘closer’ which Australians such as Michael Bevan and Mike Hussey became masters of.
Who could forget the incomparable Imran Khan, surely one of the greatest allrounders to have played the game. He could do wonders with the ball at speed and was no slouch with the bat.
In ODIs he could play the sheet anchor or go the long handle as the match dictated. What a great leader he was – and still is. Imran could easily have lived out a relative life of ease in London but it takes a special kind of courage for anyone to put themselves forward as a political leader in Pakistan.
There have been other greats of course, Waqar Younis, Abdul Qadir and my personal favourite Wasim Akram. In an era where bowlers are categorised as either a swing bowler, seamer or an express bowler, Wasim was all three – often at the same time.
Pakistan looks like a tough place to grow up in, let alone develop as a cricketer. This is perhaps another reason why I appreciate what they do on the cricket field.
They have always had talented individuals but as a team they can go off the rails at times with some spectacular crashes over the years. This brings me back to the performance the other night.
Defending a relatively small total of 235, Pakistan’s bowlers needed to stand up and be counted. Zimbabwe were battling hard. The ball is thrown to Mohammed Irfan.
I have come across Irfan before but as I don’t follow Pakistan cricket that closely I haven’t paid much attention to his performances. He certainly wasn’t heralded as one of the big bowling drawcards prior to the World Cup. If you haven’t met Irfan before, let me introduce him.
Simply put, Irfan is a giant. He clocks in at a massive seven foot tall. During wicket celebrations he is the one who stands head and shoulders above the tallest of his team mates.
When he delivers the ball he dwarfs the umpire so much that you think the television is playing up. He is solid as well and would not look out of place playing centre for an NBA team. So what does he bowl like?
Once Irfan got his bearings on a hard Gabba pitch, he began landing them on a dime. Before long his steepling bounce was giving the Zimbabwe batsman grief beyond measure.
Forget chin music – these were rib-ticklers that didn’t make you laugh. Ball after ball rose into the rib cage and became incredibly hard to play.
Two of the batsman shifted out of the way only to guide the ball straight to the slips cordon. One of the batsman bravely got in behind one only to get an almighty whack on the ribs which made me wince.
When Irfan dug one in, it cleared the head of the batsman and wicket-keeper by miles and clattered in to the fence. With a relatively short run up he still managed to nudge the speed gun at over 145 km/h on occasions. And all the time he appears unflappable.
Irfan doesn’t need to get angry to be intimidating. There was only one man that I have seen bowl like this before, West Indian Joel Garner, known affectionately as the Big Bird.
Joel Garner was the scourge of Australian batsmen and he was a bowler that Australia never really conquered.
In the field, Irfan doesn’t move like lighting. Fielding at third man he was required to chase down two balls in a row to the boundary fence letting out a big puff of air after the second one.
On one occasion he managed to reach down from that great height pick up the ball, and kept on running over the boundary rope. Boundary ropes were brought in to protect the fieldsman from the fence but I think in Mohammed’s case it is the fence that needs protecting.
Pakistan’s other seam bowlers also hit their straps at the end causing the Zimbabweans to falter at around the 160khm/h mark.
Lead by their spearhead and assisted by a pacy deck, the Pakistani bowlers looked the part for the first time in the tournament. Pakistani literature and cinema is full of heroes riding off on black stallions and it appears the dark horse label suits their cricket team nicely.
At the end of the match, Irfan shook hands with his opponents and umpire and beamed a broad smile.
The romantic in me would like to think that Irfan is a giant of the gentle kind.
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