Pakistan's Hasan Ali keen to pick James Anderson's brains during County stint with Lancashire
Pakistan seamer Hasan Ali is looking forward to learning some tricks of the trade from English great James Anderson during his County stint with Lancashire. The right-arm seamer is also hoping that he gets some reverse swing in his upcoming match since the wicket looks quite dry.
Ali arrived in Manchester on Saturday and will play six County Championship games for Lancashire. The 27-year-old's campaign will start against Kent at Canterbury later this week. He is the ninth Pakistan cricketer to play in this year's edition of England's leading first-class competition.
Hasan Ali is following in the footsteps of Wasim Akram and will play county cricket for the first time this year at Lancashire
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, the 27-year-old said he feels privileged to have this opportunity given by Lancashire and heaped praise on Anderson. The Punjab-born speedster is willing to learn from England's all-time leading wicket-taker in Tests the art of swinging the ball both ways, as well as the cross-seam delivery.
"I would like to thank the Lancashire management for the opportunity. I'm very excited and looking forward to sharing the dressing room with their players. Obviously we have Jimmy bhai, Jimmy Anderson, so I'm very happy and very excited."
The 27-year-old went on:
"Honestly, I never spoke with him before. But now I'm going to have a lot of questions to ask him. I'm going to disturb him. We know he's a great bowler. He swings the ball both ways. I'm going to learn how he swings the ball both ways, especially the cross-seam ball. I'm going to learn it."
Hasan Ali has struggled for form recently, taking only two wickets in as many Tests in the home series against Australia. He would be keen to regain his lost touch through the County Championship games.
"He told me the ball reverses here" - Hasan Ali on speaking with Saqib Mahmood
Pakistan's new-ball bowler revealed he spoke to England speedster Saqib Mahmood, who said reverse swing comes into play in Manchester. The right-arm seamer underlined his familiarity with reverse swing as a Pakistani bowler and hopes the dry conditions favor it.
"Saqib spoke with me this morning. He told me the ball reverses here. We know how to reverse the ball as Pakistan bowlers, since childhood, we used the reverse-swing because they're tough conditions for the bowlers in Pakistan, dry conditions. It's similar here. I know the weather is chill, but the square is dry and the wicket is dry so hopefully, it reverses."
Lancashire were the runners-up in division one of the 2021 edition of the County Championship as Warwickshire claimed the title for the first time since 2012.