CRICKET:SAEED AJMAL reflected on the best performance of his life yesterday, yet also had to respond to questions about the legality of his action after he had put England in dire trouble in the first Test.
England endured a torrid time against the unorthodox Pakistan off-spinner, collapsing to 192 all out, but they had no quibbles afterwards about the straightness of the arm which had taken a career-best seven for 55 on day one of this three-match series in the United Arab Emirates.
Instead, the noises off came from a former England captain several thousand miles away in London – Bob Willis voicing his teatime opinion, in a broadcast studio, that Ajmal is pushing the limits of the current Laws of Cricket.
England’s plight was soothed a little by Matt Prior (70no), who made it clear at stumps – after Pakistan had responded with an untroubled 42 for none – that the tourists have no objections to Ajmal’s action.
Even so Ajmal, reported already back in 2009 and cleared then of transgressing the permitted straightening of his arm, had to account for himself again.
“I’m just concentrating on my bowling. It’s the umpires’ and match referee’s responsibility to see if there is any problem with my action,” he said.
“They did it to [former Pakistan off-spinner] Saqlain Mushtaq. They are doing it with me. I have played county cricket, and there has been no problem with my action.” There was no equivocation from Prior either.
“On his action, it’s not something that we are concerned about or talk about in the dressing room,” said England’s wicketkeeper-batsman. It’s got nothing to do with us. If other people want to do that, it’s up to them.”
Prior acknowledged that, irrespective of Ajmal’s methods, England’s batsmen fell short of their own expectations. But he remains confident the tourists can still fight back here.
“Obviously today has not gone as we wanted,” he said. “But it’s not all over – we can’t just give it up now. We’ve got a huge day tomorrow, and we’re very confident we can pull something out of this game.
“The great thing is that this team’s been in tough positions and fought our way back. We’ve won and saved Test matches from this position. So it’s nothing new.”
For Ajmal – despite the hint of controversy – it was simply a day to savour. “It’s the best performance of my life,” he said. “I bowled wicket to wicket, and there were a few bad shots as well. There was low bounce, and some of them played cross-bat shots. We’re not surprised. We’ve been working on a plan, and we’ve bowled them out as per the plan.”
