Sunday Times
December 4, 1994
HEADLINE: Malik
BYLINE: Colin Bryden
BODY:
In Pakistan's recent home series against Australia Salim
Malik turned the heat on Warne with 557 runs. Colin Bryden gets a
masterclass.
FOR ONE man at least, Shane Warne holds no terrors or
surprises. Salim Malik, the Pakistan captain, can speak with
authority about Australia’s match-winning leg-spinner after
amassing 557 runs at an average of 92.83 in the three home Tests
against Australia in October and November. Although Warne took
18 wickets in the series, eight more than anyone else on either
side, not once did he dismiss Malik.
Malik, now on tour in South Africa, has been watching nightly
highlights of the Ashes series in his hotel room, puzzled that
England’s batsmen have yet to work out a method to counter Warne.
''Warne is a great bowler,'' Malik said, ''but to pick him is
not difficult. He can bowl only three different deliveries and
he has a completely different action for each one. I pick each
ball as it leaves his hand.‘’
Malik admits that he starts with an advantage over most
batsmen. He is a leg-spin bowler himself and, more importantly,
he spent 14 years in the same Habib Bank side as Pakistan’s
finest leg-spinner, Abdul Qadir: ‘‘Abdul was also a great bowler
and he bowled basically the same deliveries as Warne.’’
The big giveaway for Malik is Warne's hand action: ''The
angle of his hand is different and the action is different.‘’
Explaining mainly by demonstration, Malik showed how Warne’s
googly requires a higher arm extension than the regular
leg-break, with the ball emerging from the top of the hand. Malik
rates Warne’s googly as the least effective of his deliveries and
the easiest to pick: ‘‘His action is so different and he bowls it
very slowly.’’
The flipper is a great deal more threatening because the ball
shoots through fast and straight, frequently trapping the unwary
before a stroke can be executed. Malik looked for Warne to push
the delivery out of his hand, eschewing spin.
As for the leg-break, Warne's stock delivery, the tell-tale
sign for Malik was Warne imparting sharp spin with a vigorous
wrist rotation.
Although he knows what is coming, Malik says playing Warne
involves great concentration: ‘‘You have to be very careful and
wait for the loose balls. I play him mainly with the pad when the
ball is pitched outside leg stump. I always stay in my crease
because with the amount he can turn the ball it is dangerous to
go down the wicket.’’
There is also an element of psychological warfare: ''Because
he is an attacking bowler he is always going to try everything to
get you out and he is going to get fed up if he doesn’t succeed.
He will bowl you one or two loose deliveries and you have to
take advantage.‘’
Malik aims to play most of his scoring strokes against Warne
to the off side, mainly to the point and cover regions. He avoids
the temptation to play across the line by sweeping or by trying
to pull short-pitched balls to leg.
''For me, sweeping is very dangerous, especially when he has
two fielders behind square leg. If you make just a little mistake
you can be out.‘’
Malik says Warne's flipper accounted for several of his
batsmen during the series, which Pakistan won 1-0 despite being
in trouble in all three matches. Malik’s 237 in the second Test
and 143 in the third, both in the second innings, frustrated
Australia.
''Sometimes he deliberately pitches the flipper very short to
tempt the batsmen to try to hit across the line to midwicket,‘’
Malik said. ‘‘He got a few of the boys this way, because the ball
went through quicker than they expected.’’ When Warne bowled him
the flipper, Malik played all but the most obvious long hops to
the off side.
To facilitate his off-side play and to avoid being trapped
lbw by the flipper, Malik takes guard on ‘‘fourth stump’’ a
stump’s width outside leg stump when Warne is bowling around the
wicket and on leg stump when he bowls over the wicket.
Malik clearly enjoyed getting the better of his duels with
the bowler who is arguably the most devastating in Test cricket:
‘‘I was confident and he knew that.’’ He has just one regret.
Warne was credited with his wicket in one of the four
limited-overs internationals between the two sides. According to
the scorebook he was caught by wicketkeeper Ian Healy off Warne
in Multan. ‘‘It shouldn’t have been given out,’’ Malik insisted,
‘‘the ball came off my pad.’’
Despite winning their battles in Pakistan, Malik has a high
regard for the Australian, rating Warne and Qadir as the two best
leg-spinners he has seen. He is unwilling to rank one higher than
the other: ‘‘Warne turns the ball more than Abdul did in his
prime but Abdul had the better googly. It was quicker and
turned more than Warne’s.’’ Both could be devastating with their
flipper.
He rates another Pakistani, Mushtaq Ahmed, and India's Anil
Kumble as good bowlers but in a slightly lower league than Warne
and Qadir.
''Mushtaq was a good bowler,'' Malik said, ''but he has had a
slight problem since he had a stress fracture of his back. I
think he is afraid to bowl like he used to bowl.‘’ Mushtaq was
not selected for the current tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe,
although Malik hopes he will regain his form.
Kumble, Malik says, does not spin the ball as much as the
other leading leg-spinners: ‘‘His stock ball is the flipper. His
surprise ball is the one that turns a bit.’’
