Desperate times
call for desperate measures, and Australia's bid to secure a passport to England
for Fawad Ahmed, a 31-year-old Pakistani refugee with just 13 first-class
matches under his belt, has underscored the anxiety felt Down Under as the
national team prepares to do battle with the 'Old Enemy'.
While
Australia's humiliation in India, their first 4-0 series loss in more than 40
years, was stinging enough, defeat by England in one or both of the Ashes series
would be simply unforgivable.
Embittered cricket lovers in the
once-mighty test nation have waited over two years for vengeance after England's
3-1 thrashing of the hosts in the 2010-11 series on home soil, which followed a
2-1 loss away in 2009.
Hence, the determination to leave no stone
unturned, and in Ahmed, the resource-rich nation hopes to have unearthed the
rarest of commodities Down Under -- a world-class spin bowler.
Born in
Swabi, a rural district fringed by the Hindu Kush mountains and the Indus river,
the legspinner has taken 39 first class wickets at an average of 32.20 since
making his debut for Abbottabad in 2005.
The modest resume has not
discouraged Australia's cricket board, however, who are petitioning immigration
minister Brendan O'Connor to fast-track Ahmed's citizenship and allow him to be
available for selection before the first Ashes series gets underway in
July.
Without the minister's sign-off, Ahmed could still play a part in
England, but would not become eligible until Aug 18, according to cricket's
global governing body, the ICC.
That would be three days before the fifth
and final test at the Oval -- too long to wait for Cricket
Australia.
"Biomechanically, he is like an Anil Kumble who really spins
the ball," former Australia Test spinner Stuart MacGill told local media this
week, referring to the tall Indian spinner who captured 619 Test wickets in a
brilliant career.
"I had (former Test batsman) Damien Martyn face him and
he thinks he's the best Australian spinner he's seen since Warney.
"I
think he is definitely worth a place in the Ashes squad."
Shane Warne
retired with 708 test wickets after helping Australia whitewash England 5-0 in
the 2006/07 Ashes series.
Australia have lost both Ashes series since and
have searched in vain for a successor to the peerless blond leg-spinner,
churning through 12 slow bowlers and discarding almost all of them
quickly.
The 11th, Nathan Lyon, has more or less cemented his place as
Australia's leading spinner and is expected to be named in the Ashes squad for
England after taking 15 wickets from his three Tests in India.
Selectors
will take a second spinner, however, leaving the door open for Ahmed to complete
a fairytale entry into Test cricket only eight months after being granted asylum
in Australia.
DEATH THREATS
"I'm not sure whether the process is
going to be solved but (Cricket Australia) are definitely helping me and we are
pretty hopeful we will get through," Ahmed told Reuters in a telephone
interview.
Ahmed's journey to the cusp of international selection has
been an unusual one, arriving in Australia in 2010 on a short-term visa to play
cricket in Yoogali, a remote rural town in New South Wales surrounded by
vineyards and orchards.
Ahmed ended up in Melbourne and applied for
asylum as a refugee, claiming he was subject to death threats from Islamic
extremists for being involved with a Pakistan-based NGO promoting women's
rights.
"The main aim was to educate (women) and to help people get clean
and clear water for drinking and (give them) vaccinations," Ahmed said of the
NGO.
"There were some (threats) and I applied for that reason.
"I
have family over there. I miss them badly, they mean everything to me. But
Australia's now my country and I'm happy here and my family and friends are all
happy for me as well."
Ahmed made a big impression playing club cricket
in Melbourne but his initial application for asylum was rejected last year,
leaving the player facing deportation.
An appeal backed by Cricket
Australia to then-immigration minister Chris Bowen secured Ahmed's permanent
residency in November, paving the way for him to play in the top-flight leagues,
including first-class cricket for Victoria.
Ahmed caused a stir by
capturing 7-162 against Queensland in February, the best debut by a spinner for
Victoria in over 40 years and his stock rose further in subsequent weeks as
Australia's slow bowlers were flayed by India's Test batsmen.
Ahmed is
proud of his birthplace in Pakistan, where archaeologists claim to have found
evidence of conqueror Alexander the Great's campaign along the Indus
valley.
He hopes to carve his own swathe through England's batsmen
despite having never faced them, nor bowled on English pitches.
"I've
never played there but I'm pretty sure that throughout the history -- I watch
cricket all the time - most of the spinners really perform there, especially
Shane Warne, MacGill, Kumble," he said.
"And I'm pretty hopeful if I get
a chance, (I'll) at least try to do my best and perform
outstandingly."
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