Was Fawad Alam ready for his return to Test cricket this week in England? It seems not.
Having played his last Test match in 2009, it has been 11 years of toil in first-class cricket for the Pakistani batsman.
And in all fairness, first-class cricket in Pakistan is perhaps the worst in Asia, or maybe on par with that of Bangladesh.
Even Sri Lankan first-class cricket seems to have produced more consistent Test match players in Dimuth Karunaratne, Odisha Fernando and Kusal Mendis, in recent years.
A side-on stance that has only got worse with time was perhaps the major fault behind his dismissal in the first innings.
You can literally see why Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former chief selector, ignored Alam, despite his high scoring charts.
Nonetheless, Alam was brought back to the Test team following three years of public outrage for the ignored cricketer.
The situation was such, following the hapless Australia tour, that Misbah-ul-Haq had no other alternative but to bring in Alam to temper the angst in the Pakistani cricketing fraternity.
Two series later, when Alam finally got his chance, he proved quite incapable of handing the English seaming conditions.
He faced four balls then got out out, trapped LBW by England seamer Chris Woakes.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
It was rather expected from a man who has bullied his way to 12,000 first-class runs on turning, flat, subcontinent decks.
Another English failure for a subcontinent cricketer!
He has another innings to redeem himself in Southampton.
But at 34, his time in international cricket is surely over.
Amrit
Roar Guru
Exactly at least with Azhar, Shan and Asad you can say that they are technically better to face the likes of Broad and Anderson.....Fawad is at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Charlie McCormack
Roar Rookie
Probably a little harsh on Fawad after copping a duck in his first game back on a seaming deck. In saying that, his wide stance filled me with no confidence he is going to be successful against bowlers of Anderson and Broad's calibre. Hopefully he gets another chance and makes some runs because he is a good story of persistence.
Amrit
Roar Guru
When i talk about Asad, Misbah or for the fact Azhar, their averages till 2017 outside Asia was over 30; since 2007, only Pakistani players till 2017 had combined averages over 30 in SENA countries. That's speaks for a fact. Even Younis had less than 30 in that period. Fawad Alam, for all the praise that we sing, is definitely not in that bracket. He is more like the Khurram Manzoor who failed to establish himself after the Sri Lanka series; and as for his first class stats, it only sky rocketed post 2014 Asia Cup. First innings in Southampton was a big disappointment and the ironic thing is, this time around it was not his temperament which failed him, but his technique. If he plays the next game(hope he's not) the series will become a nightmare to forget.
Patrick
Roar Pro
How can you show temperament in English conditions when you never get the chance? Aside from a handful of white ball games a decade ago, Alam hasn't really played in England or South Africa. By contrast, Shafiq's record in these two countries is poor: 8 Tests in England, 31.23 AVG 6 Tests in Sth Africa, 32.08 AVG On the whole, Shafiq averages 48.85 in Asia, and 27.3 outside of Asia- He's exactly the flat track bully that you describe Alam to be. Equally, Azhar Ali averages 27.64 from 14 Tests in England, and 16 from 6 Tests in South Africa. On the whole, he averages 53.47 in Asia, and 30.42 elsewhere. It's hard to justify leaving out someone with a FC average of 56, on an unproven assumption that they're a flat track bully, when those that you pick ahead of him have demonstrated that very problem.
Amrit
Roar Guru
Alam is no Misbah for one thing.Selecting a player in the squad on the basis of public outcry is no good sign, besides whom did Fawad replace in this Test -Shadab Khan, really?That’s how poor this selection was for the match and judging by his stance, his more akin to Dom Sibley and Nick Crompton and even worse rather than closer to Chanderpaul.And what’s wrong to suggest that he’s a flat track bully, I guess you should take a look at this year’s Quaid-e-Azam trophy. Maybe I should add this as well- players like Khurram Manzoor, Fawad Alam never got a chance in the team not cause they didn’t score big in Quiad-e-Azam, it was purely because they never showed the temperament in English or South African conditions, unlike the heavily-scrutinized Asad Shafiq or for that matter, Azhar Ali as well.
Amrit
Roar Guru
Alam is no Misbah for one thing. Selecting a player in the squad on the basis of public outcry is no good sign, besides whom did Fawad replace in this Test -Shadab Khan, really? That's how poor this selection was for the match and judging by his stance, his more akin to Dom Sibley and Nick Crompton and even worse rather than closer to Chanderpaul. And what's wrong to suggest that he's a flat track bully, I guess you should take a look at this year's Quaid-e-Azam trophy
Paul
Roar Guru
I'm not sure I understand the point of this piece, except to bag a guy who got a duck, not having played any serious cricket for well over 6 months. So what if he has an ungainly stance, so did a bloke named Chanderpaul. Yes he got a 4 ball duck, but another Pakistan batsman named Shan Masood made one run more and lasted 1 ball more. Was he ready for Southampton? If Pakistan has better batting options, why aren't they using them? Clearly the selectors think he's their best choice for now and hopefully he gets plenty of runs in the second innings.
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
If one innings were to judge a cricketer then many world class players would've been dropped by now. I'm neither Pakistani or a Pakistan fan but Alam deserves a long run. Four balls on a bowling friendly wicket won't determine his outcome. Misbah played Tests till his 40s. 34 is nothing as long as Alam is fit