Ex-England Captain Explains Why Pakistan Produce Quality Bowlers

Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Wahab Riaz or Umar Gul. Pakistan have produced a flurry of quality bowlers and they have been a joy to watch. The ammunition Pakistan have found from their ever growing group of bowlers has only helped them emerge as a quality side.

Fast bowling has been synonymous to Pakistan. It is a nation every cricketer looks up to as far as bowling is concerned. Former England captain-turned-pundit Michael Atherton, in an interview to PCB’s media team, explained why Pakistan produce such quality bowlers.

 They had some great bowlers: Michael Atherton

Michael Atherton represented England from 1989 to 2001. During this time he faced some of the finest Pakistan bowlers under the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed. The former spinner thinks Pakistan had some great bowlers and in the recent times their strength lies in their wicket-taking bowlers.

“When I played against them, they had some great bowlers in particular. The last attack that I played against on my tour here of 2000, they had Wasim and Waqar [Younis] then Mushtaq [Ahmed] and Saqlain [Mushtaq]. Now you have got four great match-winning bowlers there.

“Pakistan, of course, have produced great batsmen, but I think in recent times, the strength and depth of their bowling and particularly the kind of wicket-taking bowlers – pace bowlers and mystery spinners – have set them apart,” Atherton said. 

Michael Atherton explains why Pakistan bowlers have come good

“I don’t know why Pakistan particularly produces great bowlers. I suspect it has something to do with the relative lack of infrastructure. In order to produce lots and lots of great batsmen, you’ve got to have facilities and infrastructure and coaches and a very formal system, but I think bowlers can spring and emerge from anywhere and that’s probably why Pakistan produce so many.”

Atherton scored over 7700 Test runs, 1791 in ODIs and maintained a decent average over 75 in both the formats.