I'm a little bit baffled by the talk of what Amir has to do to get back into the team, or whether he should be recalled for South Africa.
It seems to me that what we have seen of Mohammad Amir since his return is as follows:
1. He probably wasn't really 18 when he was banned eight years ago - he seems to be around 28 now, not 26.
2. He remains an excellent Test bowler on green wickets or when there is conventional swing.
3. In his last 3 Test matches he took 12 wickets at an average of 18.42, and he outbowled Mohammad Abbas, with figures of 10-5-9-2, 29.2-9-63-3, 14-3-41-1, 18.1-3-36-4 and 23-5-72-2.
4. He is too short and too slow (in Tests) to be likely to succeed in the UAE, where he would only accelerate the wearing out of his body for very limited returns.
5. He is actually a better batsman than we expected: he outbatted Misbah-ul-Haq on a full tour of Australia, which should stand him in good stead in South Africa. He averaged 19.66 with the bat in Australia and 44.00 in England.
6. Since returning to domestic cricket in October, his First Class bowling record is:
5-44 and 2-34
2-47 and 4-40
2-62 and 5-55
3-31
That makes 23 wickets in 7 innings at an average of 13.61.
So it strikes me that the best thing that Pakistan can do with Mohammad Amir is to use him on away Test tours to Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa only and not in any UAE Test series. And then use him in major 20 and 50 overs tournaments only.
That way the wear and tear on his body is kept as slow as possible, and he is reserved for favourable conditions.
But hold on, what has Mickey Arthur had to say about this?
Well, last June this is what he told [MENTION=9]Saj[/MENTION] in "The Cricket Paper":
"I'm going to sit with Mohammad Amir and Inzamam-ul-Haq soon and we are going to map out a future for him". The interview was reported in "Sport360" under the headline "Pakistan to manage Mohammad Amir's workload in lead up to 2019 World Cup".
https://sport360.com/article/cricke...irs-workload-in-lead-up-to-the-2019-world-cup
It strikes me that Mickey Arthur has just done exactly what he said he'd do - rest Mohammad Amir from playing in unfavourable conditions in the UAE to save him for series in conditions where he is more likely to succeed.
Obviously in Pakistan you can still earn credit by making it look like you are punishing the former spot-fixers. And Mickey would be a fool not to take advantage of that.
But it strikes me that Mohammad Amir is the key member of the Test team in South Africa, with a crucial role at Number 9 (hopefully to score 35 and lift 180-7 into 280 all out) and being part of a 4-pronged pace attack looking something like this:
Mohammad Abbas
Mohammad Amir
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Faheem Ashraf
It seems to me that what we have seen of Mohammad Amir since his return is as follows:
1. He probably wasn't really 18 when he was banned eight years ago - he seems to be around 28 now, not 26.
2. He remains an excellent Test bowler on green wickets or when there is conventional swing.
3. In his last 3 Test matches he took 12 wickets at an average of 18.42, and he outbowled Mohammad Abbas, with figures of 10-5-9-2, 29.2-9-63-3, 14-3-41-1, 18.1-3-36-4 and 23-5-72-2.
4. He is too short and too slow (in Tests) to be likely to succeed in the UAE, where he would only accelerate the wearing out of his body for very limited returns.
5. He is actually a better batsman than we expected: he outbatted Misbah-ul-Haq on a full tour of Australia, which should stand him in good stead in South Africa. He averaged 19.66 with the bat in Australia and 44.00 in England.
6. Since returning to domestic cricket in October, his First Class bowling record is:
5-44 and 2-34
2-47 and 4-40
2-62 and 5-55
3-31
That makes 23 wickets in 7 innings at an average of 13.61.
So it strikes me that the best thing that Pakistan can do with Mohammad Amir is to use him on away Test tours to Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa only and not in any UAE Test series. And then use him in major 20 and 50 overs tournaments only.
That way the wear and tear on his body is kept as slow as possible, and he is reserved for favourable conditions.
But hold on, what has Mickey Arthur had to say about this?
Well, last June this is what he told [MENTION=9]Saj[/MENTION] in "The Cricket Paper":
"I'm going to sit with Mohammad Amir and Inzamam-ul-Haq soon and we are going to map out a future for him". The interview was reported in "Sport360" under the headline "Pakistan to manage Mohammad Amir's workload in lead up to 2019 World Cup".
https://sport360.com/article/cricke...irs-workload-in-lead-up-to-the-2019-world-cup
It strikes me that Mickey Arthur has just done exactly what he said he'd do - rest Mohammad Amir from playing in unfavourable conditions in the UAE to save him for series in conditions where he is more likely to succeed.
Obviously in Pakistan you can still earn credit by making it look like you are punishing the former spot-fixers. And Mickey would be a fool not to take advantage of that.
But it strikes me that Mohammad Amir is the key member of the Test team in South Africa, with a crucial role at Number 9 (hopefully to score 35 and lift 180-7 into 280 all out) and being part of a 4-pronged pace attack looking something like this:
Mohammad Abbas
Mohammad Amir
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Faheem Ashraf
