Will Wasim and Waqar wreck England again?

``IF Thommo don't get you, Lillee will.'' This was the clarion call down under in the seventies, when Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee were at their fiery best, when Test cricket had to be seen to be believed.

For a long time Pakistan also possessed such a deadly duo of fast bowlers in Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

They did not match the two awesome Aussies when it came to sheer pace but the relentlessness and the stunning regularity with which they used to pounce on the batsmen so fruitfully that their supporters would chant: ``If Wasim don't get you, Waqar will.''

It is a very vital piece of statistics that Akram and Younis have claimed more than 300 wickets, both in Tests as well as One-Day Internationals.

In fact, Akram is the only player in history with 400 wickets in his kitty in both forms of international cricket.

The two famous Ws of Pakistan cricket may not be getting any younger, their better days may have been behind them, but there are still many tricks up their sleeves.

They are still capable of shaking the best of batsmen; and most certainly their more favourite preys from England.

It will not be easy for Nasser Hussain and company to stave off Akram and Younis who seem keen to make unforgettable their last series in England donning the Pakistan colours.

What Akram and Younis have achieved is just about phenomenal, considering that both have been injury-prone.

While Akram has had back, knee and shoulder problems over the years, Younis has almost a perpetual back trouble.

But for injuries, the two would have played many more games for Pakistan and their figures and records would have been more startling than they are.

Akram and Younis. They are to be mentioned in the same breath as Gregory and McDonald, Lindwall and Miller, Statham and Trueman, Hall and Griffith, Roberts and Holding and, of course, Lillee and Thomson, some of the most fearsome pairs of fast bowlers of alltime.

The two were almost indispensable to the Pakistan team until Shoaib Akhtar burst upon the scene and immediately caught the eye with his brutal pace, aggro and flamboyance.

But even when the injury-prone Akhtar with his ``questionable'' bowling action was around, Akram and Younis continued to frighten those whose job it was to face their fury when armed with the ball, new or old.

It is amazing the way Akram and Younis have kept themselves going in a very demanding and highly competitive world of international cricket.

There is virtually nothing on a cricket field which they have not proved as bowlers. It is the quest for excellence and the motivation to bring more and more laurels for their country that seem to bring the best out of them.

While Younis' name has never figured prominently in the match- fixing scandal, Akram has been accused of being at the centre of the controversy from the beginning itself.

Also, both have become victims of the dirty politics that has plagued Pakistan cricket since ages, particularly Akram who was often taken for a ride as far as the national captaincy was concerned.

In spite of being one of the more successful bowling pairs in history, the two do not seem to be geting along well for a variety of reasons.

So much so Akram was included as the 17th member in the England- bound party only at the 11th hour despite strong opposition from Younis the captain.

They were also accused in England (where else?) of tampering with the ball. The Poms' ingrained mistrust about Akram and Younis - ``are they genuine swingers or merely twisters?'' - had developed into a paranoia that sapped their morale and helped devastate them. But no one shred of evidence, no picked seam, bottle-top scuffing or vaseline polishing had been reported by the umpires who checked the cherry regularly at the end of every session during the three-Test series in England in mid-1990s.

What was conspicuous was that the Englishmen were not victims of an undetected crime but of a lethal pair of speedsters of exceptional talent.

If anything, the slur on their names had a helpful rather than damaging effect. It only spurred Akram and Younis.

Nevertheless, it calls for extraordinary talents and strong mental toughness to perform invariably brilliantly in such a situation.

And Akram and Younis have demonstrated these qualities in no uncertain ways to be able to keep their reputation as the world's leading players intact. Well, almost.

If Akram and Younis appear so good even at this stage when they might call it a day any time, just imagine how good they must have been when young and at the height of their cricketing prowess. The southpaw (Akram) and the right-hander (Younis) always complemented each other. Their combined assault left many world-class batsmen facing the ball as if it were a primed grenade.

It was fate that threw together these two bowlers capable of extreme pace and remarkable accuracy.

While Akram would charge in with his brisk, eager runup and whippy left-arm action, Younis made life difficult for the batsman with a barrage of wicked inswinging yorkers with the old ball. Younis simply took your breath away with his classical sideways-on action.

In addition to their speed and stamina, it was their insight into a batsman's weakness and a wide variety of different balls at their command (each shrewdly employed to a devastating effect) that made Akram and Younis dangerous customers.

Unlike many men of their trade, Akram and Younis never wasted time with an excess of bouncers. They still don't.

They would generally bowl a full length and thereby claim a large proportion of their wickets, either bowled or lbw. Also, very early in their careers they developed the difficult art of reverse-swinging the old ball.

It is not often that a fast bowler swings the old ball as prodigiously and viciously as the two Pakistanis. Therein probably lay their true greatness.

While scores of English and other bowlers have been working on the method which has a sure stamp of Akram and Younis on it, the Pakistanis have kept the secret to themselves. They are wise enough not to spread it around.

When it was Akram and Younis, the ball kept swinging just about crazily, especially after 40 overs or so. That Akram and Younis could be unplayable when there was a slightly scuffed ball in their hands was a patent fact.

No, it had nothing whatsoever to do with ball-tampering but everything to do with sheer genius. It was easier to bat at the top of the order than at the bottom in such a scenario! It was not that Akram and Younis have been effective only in the heavyweight division of cricket; they have been equally good in overs-specific cricket as well. But the very nature of the short game is such that it puts certain restrictions on pace bowlers.

Not only Akram and Younis but the whole of Pakistan owe a sense of gratitude to Imran Khan. For it was Imran who spotted the two at different times and pitchforked them directly into international cricket.

On their part, Akram and Younis did justify the confidence reposed in them by the former Pakistan captain.

In his maiden first-class match itself, for BCCP's Patron's XI against touring New Zealand in 1984-85, Akram responded with figures of 7 for 50.

Not bad for someone barely 18 with no first-class experience at all. But he still did not get to play any Test or ODI against the tourists.Akram was, of course, selected for the following tour to New Zealand and in only his third Test, at Dunedin, the potential world-class allrounder bagged 5 for 56 and 5 for 72.

In the World Championship of Cricket in Australia in 1985, Akram took first five Australian wickets for 13 runs in a match at Melbourne.

It was a flying start to his career and, as they say, Akram hardly or never looked back thereafter. Although Akram has three Test centuries to his credit, including a real big double hundred (257 not out) against Zimbabwe, one cannot help feeling that he has not done enough justice to his batting ability, a fact he may regret forever once he quits playing.

Younis, too, fulfilled all expectations of his mentor in the very beginning of his international career.

He had taken as many as 150 wickets in only 27 Tests, including 100 in his first 20 Tests. It was like a fairy-tale story, to say the least. Sadly, injury forced Younis to miss the 1992 Benson and Hedges World Cup in the Antipodes, which Pakistan won under Imran.

Considering everything, the exploits of Akram and Younis appear mind-boggling. Their feats deserve to be written in letters of gold.

You have to accept their class, capacity and charisma even if you are not so much fond of statistics. For even without figures and records Akram and Younis appear fantastic.

Now that Akram and Younis are back in England, where they have always enjoyed bowling the most, it would not be surprising if they recapture the fire and form that had the English gasping in the two series in the 1990s.

When Akram and Younis are in England and bowling in favourable conditions, anything can happen. They can in-swing, out-swing and, for good measure, reverse-swing the ball as well. Indeed, difficult times are ahead of the English batsmen, as it were, as they are going to face not one or two but three weird Ws this summer.

HARESH PANDYA

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