Wasim Akram and fellow quick Waqar Younis took over 1,700 wickets for Pakistan between them. AFP
Wasim Akram and fellow quick Waqar Younis took over 1,700 wickets for Pakistan between them. AFP
Wasim Akram and fellow quick Waqar Younis took over 1,700 wickets for Pakistan between them. AFP
Wasim Akram and fellow quick Waqar Younis took over 1,700 wickets for Pakistan between them. AFP

'Waqar Younis was definitely quicker. He was friggin’ express': Wasim Akram


Paul Radley
  • English
  • Arabic

As he casually reclines on a couch, on the top floor of a multi-sensory cube designed to demonstrate the future of paying for stuff, Wasim Akram seems well placed to compare the differences between old and new.

The all-time fast-bowling great is at Expo 2020 Dubai as an ambassador for Mastercard, who are the “official payment technology partner” for the world expo.

Inside the cube, guests are given a glimpse of what it will be like to attend a sports event in future, using augmented reality to pay for match tickets and even snacks.

It feels a long way from 1990s Sharjah Cricket Stadium, when Wasim was in his pomp. To be honest, it all feels a long way from 2021 Sharjah, even.

At the T20 World Cup just gone, for example, spectators were still able to buy samosas or popcorn from the concessions outlets using cash money. Crazy, hey?

It is a tribute to Wasim’s lasting greatness as a cricketer that he is still considered suited to such a role, 18 years after he retired from playing.

He appreciates evolution, too. If he ever intimates anything was better in his day, he will be able to reason out precisely why.

And he loves the current vintage of the Pakistan team, too, terming them “humble” and “just good kids in general, down-to-earth guys”.

The side’s performances at the T20 World Cup in the UAE were thrilling. Not for the first time, they were the most captivating team for neutrals to watch, even if they did fall short of winning the trophy.

The way Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf, in particular, thrilled the baying masses in Sharjah and Dubai with their searing pace bowling brought to mind the way Wasim did the same in years gone by.

Pakistan's Haris Rauf bowls during the T20 World Cup semi-final match against Australia. AFP
Pakistan's Haris Rauf bowls during the T20 World Cup semi-final match against Australia. AFP

So, in the spirit of comparing old and new, it begs a question. The Wasim and Waqar Younis partnership of his era, or the Haris and Shaheen combination of 2021: which one was faster?

“Waqar was definitely quicker. He was friggin’ express,” Wasim says.

“The speedgun only really came in around 2000 or 2001, maybe. I was 136kph then. Waqar was around the same pace, 136-138. In our heydays, on our day we were regularly 150s.”

Although the difference in their respective speeds is debatable, the level of achievements cannot be compared as yet.

Waqar and Wasim took over 1,700 wickets for Pakistan between them. Shaheen and Haris, by contrast, are just starting out.

Wasim does have one word of advice, though. “I think Haris needs to play first-class cricket,” he says.

“What I don’t want is for Haris to get into the mindset of just playing T20. T20 cricket is easy: four overs, then go and stand at short fine leg. And that’s over in an hour and 10.

“Test cricket is the ultimate. For any top cricketer, it is the ultimate. T20 is great for entertainment, but you can’t judge the quality of a player by T20.

“Haris is still young. At his age he should be wanting to represent Pakistan in Test cricket.”

The all-time fast-bowling great is at Expo 2020 Dubai as an ambassador for Mastercard.
The all-time fast-bowling great is at Expo 2020 Dubai as an ambassador for Mastercard.

The fact Shaheen is due to have a length stint in county cricket with Middlesex next summer is something Wasim appreciates. He sets great store on the 10 years he had playing for Lancashire in the county game, and says the same worked for Waqar in his spells with Surrey then Glamorgan.

As a left-arm pace bowler of great dexterity, who is capable of show-stopping spells, the similarities between Shaheen and Wasim are obvious.

Wasim has not had any direct consultations with the younger man as yet. If he could recommend one thing to him, it would be to develop a slower ball which moves away from left-handed batsmen, he says.

He believes that might have helped guard against the sort of hitting by Matthew Wade which ended Pakistan’s World Cup campaign in a flurry of sixes – although Wasim does suggest that experience will make Shaheen stronger.

“Sometimes it can be a blessing in disguise to go through this as a bowler,” Wasim says.

“It takes something like that for Shaheen to understand he needs that slower ball [Wasim mimes a leg-cutter action] not just the one that comes into the left-hander.

“If this slower ball goes across, there is a chance it will go up in the air.

“Also, Shaheen’s field placing, especially in that over against Wade, was wrong.

“Whenever you do a team meeting, you say: ‘OK, Matthew Wade, his go-to shot is this one, so we need fine leg back’. He might hit you for six there as well, but he will be in two minds’.

“Shaheen had fine leg and third man both up in the circle. With experience, he will learn.”

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Transmission: 8-speed auto

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  • Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
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The biog

Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists. 

Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.

Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic 

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Timeline

1947
Ferrari’s road-car company is formed and its first badged car, the 125 S, rolls off the assembly line

1962
250 GTO is unveiled

1969
Fiat becomes a Ferrari shareholder, acquiring 50 per cent of the company

1972
The Fiorano circuit, Ferrari’s racetrack for development and testing, opens

1976
First automatic Ferrari, the 400 Automatic, is made

1987
F40 launched

1988
Enzo Ferrari dies; Fiat expands its stake in the company to 90 per cent

2002
The Enzo model is announced

2010
Ferrari World opens in Abu Dhabi

2011
First four-wheel drive Ferrari, the FF, is unveiled

2013
LaFerrari, the first Ferrari hybrid, arrives

2014
Fiat Chrysler announces the split of Ferrari from the parent company

2015
Ferrari launches on Wall Street

2017
812 Superfast unveiled; Ferrari celebrates its 70th anniversary

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html" charset="UTF-8" /></head><body><!--PSTYLE=* Labels%3aFH Label 18 Sport--><p>Beach soccer</p><!--PSTYLE=BY Byline--><p>Amith Passela</p><p /></body></html>
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO

Inter Milan 2 (Vecino 65', Barella 83')

Verona 1 (Verre 19' pen)

PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES

Tuesday (UAE kick-off times)

Leicester City v Brighton (9pm)

Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United (11.15pm)

Wednesday

Manchester United v Sheffield United (9pm)

Newcastle United v Aston Villa (9pm)

Norwich City v Everton (9pm)

Wolves v Bournemouth (9pm)

Liverpool v Crystal Palace (11.15pm)

Thursday

Burnley v Watford (9pm)

Southampton v Arsenal (9pm)

Chelsea v Manchester City (11.15pm)

BRAZIL%20SQUAD
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The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet

Price, base: Dh429,090

Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8

Transmission Seven-speed automatic

Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm

Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km

Saturday's results

West Ham 2-3 Tottenham
Arsenal 2-2 Southampton
Bournemouth 1-2 Wolves
Brighton 0-2 Leicester City
Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool
Everton 0-2 Norwich City
Watford 0-3 Burnley

Manchester City v Chelsea, 9.30pm 

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Power: 510hp at 9,000rpm
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
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PREMIER LEAGUE RESULTS

Bournemouth 1 Manchester City 2
Watford 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 0
Newcastle United 3 West Ham United 0
Huddersfield Town 0 Southampton 0
Crystal Palace 0 Swansea City 2
Manchester United 2 Leicester City 0
West Bromwich Albion 1 Stoke City 1
Chelsea 2 Everton 0
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Burnley 1
Liverpool 4 Arsenal 0

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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs

Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

Power: 819hp

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Updated: December 01, 2021, 4:32 AM`