If Mohammad Amir thought he would be given an easy ride at cricket grounds when he returned to the game, he learned very quickly that he was wrong.
Amir is back in the Pakistan team after serving a five-year ban for bowling no-balls deliberately during the 2010 Lord’s Test against England. The paceman was also given a six-month prison sentence, eventually serving three months in a young offenders’ institute.
On July 14, he will make his Test return — at Lord’s — though his first proper game in England since 2010 starts on Sunday, a three-day match against Somerset at Taunton.
Amir is said to be ready for whatever crowds throw at him. While there will perhaps be booing and heckling, there is unlikely to be the open mockery Amir suffered on his comeback tour of New Zealand this year.
As Amir prepared to bowl in a T20 international in Wellington, the stadium announcer played the sound of a cash till ringing. Amir received an apology from New Zealand Cricket but it was a taste of what may await.
Taunton should provide relatively sympathetic surroundings, as should Hove — where Pakistan play Sussex — and Lord’s.
Yet when Amir travels to noisier grounds like Old Trafford and Edgbaston, he may find the locals more hostile. There is only one way for him to silence them — and according to captain Misbah-ul-Haq, he will do so.
Amir was only 18 when he was banned for what happened at Lord’s, but he was still one of the best young fast bowlers in the world.
“The way he has been bowling, he is there,” said Misbah. “You look at his bowling speed, his swing, his control, they’re all there. He can still be the best bowler in the world. Whatever form of the game he has played since his comeback, he has done well.
“He knows he is under pressure but he is handling it well. It is a chance to win back all his fans.”
