How Pakistan's Mohammad Amir has turned his doubters into believers after spot-fixing shame
Almost 12 months after he made his return to Test cricket following a five-year-ban for spot-fixing, Amir is now back to something close to his formidable best
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Your support makes all the difference.To borrow a phrase from Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, Mohammad Amir has turned doubters into believers.
It’s coming up to 12 months since the Pakistan fast bowler made his return to Test cricket at Lord’s following a five-year ban for spot-fixing.
That of course was the venue where an 18-year-old Amir, alongside former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, bowled no balls to order during the 2010 Test against England.
All three were subsequently jailed for their part in the plot, Amir serving three months in a young offenders’ institute.
Despite his youth, the playing ban handed to Amir by the International Cricket Council might have ended his career.
Yet he is now back to something close to his very best, evidenced by his performances for Pakistan in the recent Champions Trophy, where Amir’s three wickets in the final played a major part in helping his country shock bitter rivals India.
The next stop on Amir’s road to redemption is Chelmsford. The challenge is to not only help deliver Essex a first County Championship title in 25 years but to convince the last remaining doubters to believe in him again.
You would think one of those might be Alastair Cook, part of the England team for whom that 2010 Lord’s Test will forever be tarnished.
Last summer, speaking ahead of the Pakistan series, Cook was, by his conservative standards, outspoken on Amir. “What he did wasn’t good, but he served his punishment then,” said Cook.
“If I was in charge if you got caught once that would be it - one strike and you’re out.”
On Monday the pair will be team-mates for the first time when Essex, top of the County Championship Division One table, host champions Middlesex at Chelmsford.
Amir believes any issues he may have had with Cook in the past have gone. “Very good, very good,” was the short reply when asked how his relationship with the former England captain was.
Pressed further he added: “I met him the first day I arrived and he was very nice. He actually said to me a very funny thing – ‘I want to learn Urdu – so you have to teach me’. He’s a very nice human being so I think it will be a good journey with him.”
The journey will actually be rather brief given Cook will be commandeered by England’s Test team for much of the remainder of the summer.
Amir, though, will be key to Essex’s chances of a first title in 34 years. Given they only gained promotion last summer, the club’s own comeback story is now intertwined with that of the Pakistani.
And the magnitude of Amir’s signing for Essex was illustrated by the fact he was afforded an official arrival press conference last week.
Questions about the 25-year-old’s past were strictly off limits – with the rather odd instruction that he would only answer questions about “the present”.
This was an approach Pakistan took last summer, when fears over Amir’s return saw them hire public relations expert Jonathan Collett, press secretary of former Conservative leader Michael Howard and a part of the Leave campaign during last year’s EU Referendum.
Essex’s nervousness was understandable. The county’s own links with match-fixing are still fresh in the mind.
Danish Kaneria, their last major overseas signing from Pakistan, was banned for life in 2012 for his part in the Mervyn Westfield spot-fixing scandal that involved manipulation of one of Essex’s televised 50-over matches.
Then there is Saleem Malik, another Pakistani and a member of Essex’s 1992 title-winning team who was banned from the sport for life eight years later for his own involvement in match fixing.
Amir, though, is looking to write a new chapter in his story and one that not only offers further redemption for himself but Essex as well.
If his signing is a success there is a very real chance he can take the county to what would be a remarkable Championship triumph.
“I do believe, anything is possible,” says Amir.
“It’s my first experience of county cricket and as an overseas player I want to do my best.
“The people I’ve met here are very nice and very hopeful. Everyone is crazy, my phone keeps going and it’s put extra pressure on me but as a professional it’s my duty to make the people here happy.”
It is telling that Amir’s reasons for choosing county cricket ahead of a T20 payday in the Caribbean Premier League were to try and emulate a former Pakistan legend whose reputation is unimpeachable.
“The standard of county cricket you can’t find anywhere else,” he said. “I was offered deals by the CPL but I refused because I wanted to play county cricket. I think it’s good for me and my career. Wasim Akram always believed his cricket improved after county cricket and for me it’s a good opportunity to do that. Let’s see what happens next.”
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