The first two parts of this little series of mine have been an all-rounder and a keeper-batsman, so seeing as I tend to consider myself a swing bowler, it was about time to write on one. And who better to choose than the lionhearted Pakistani left-armer Wasim Akram.


In this blogger's humble opinion, Wasim Akram's mastery with a cricket ball is second to none, with the great Pakistani being the last of a dying breed of truly great swing bowlers. Many cricket personalities rate Wasim as the greatest left-arm paceman of them all, and his complete control over swing- both conventional and reverse- seam, pace and bounce all prove a compelling point.

Plucked from obscurity at 18 years of age by Pakistani captain Javed Miandad to make his first class debut against a touring New Zealand side, Wasim took 7-50 and soon found himself on the plane to New Zealand later in 1985, this time representing his country. In only his second Test match, the teenage Wasim took 10-128 against the Kiwis and became the youngest player to take 10 wickets in a Test match, cementing his place as a key player for Pakistan during their Golden Era of the late 80's to mid 90's, and forming one of the most lethal opening bowling partnerships in history with the right-armed but equally fearsome Waqar Younis. Wasim and Waqar combined in both Tests and one-day internationals, with Wasim contributing 414 Test wickets and 502 ODI wickets (the first man to do so) to their combined tally. But Wasim's wicket tallies are not his only amazing feats; he is the only man to have four international hat-tricks, two in Tests (one featured below) and two in limited overs internationals, and was the first man to 50 World Cup wickets (he participated in 5 from 1987-2003). He was also a highly competent batsman, good enough to score nearly 3000 Test runs, with 3 centuries and a highest score of 257* (including 12 sixes) against Zimbabwe in 1996-97.

Only truly great cricketers can claim a match as their own, and this was undoubtedly the case with Wasim at the Adelaide Oval in 1990 against the newly-mighty Australians. After taking 11 wickets in the First Test of that series at the MCG, Wasim followed it up with 5/100 in Australia's first innings of the Adelaide Test, and then slapped 52 in Pakistan's first innings. But in their second, the Pakistanis slumped to 5 for 90 when Wasim walked to the wicket to join his captain and hero Imran Khan. 191 runs later, the partnership was broken, with Imran scoring 136 and Wasim 123. This was his first Test hundred and arguably one of his greatest all-round performances. It is the 1992 World Cup final, where the unfancied Pakistani side beat England, that is Wasim's most fond cricketing memory. Playing in front of 90,000 screaming fans at the MCG, Wasim added 33 late runs in a half-century stand again with Imran, and then took 3/49 including the wickets of Ian Botham and Allan Lamb, and was adjudged Man of the Match.

But perhaps the greatest accolade of his cricketing career came from his teammates at English county side Lancashire. The then coach David Lloyd recalls "Wasim was the overseas player, and I made him captain as well. I could see he was a natural leader, as could the other players. They just called him "King"."

Now because he's such a legendary player, I decided one YouTube video wasn't quite enough for you to gather Wasim's talents with the cricket ball. So I added two. This first one is Wasim taking 6-67 against England at The Oval in 1992.


The next video is Wasim taking one of his 4 international hat-tricks, this time against Sri Lanka in 1999. My personal favourite is when he breaks Chaminda Vaas' off stump.