Amir rises from the depths of his past to brink of greatness
It has taken Mohammad Amir six long and painful years to complete a journey that began at his lowest ebb in Southwark and ended with his greatest cricketing triumph just three miles down the road in Kennington.
the life of a young bowler seemingly destined for greatness was shattered when he was led away in handcuffs in 2011 from Southwark Crown Court to begin a six-month jail sentence for conspiring to accept corrupt payments.
Now Amir, older and much wiser at 25, is back on that road towards the top after seizing his second chance to bowl Pakistan to the most unlikely and uplifting of Champions trophy victories over India at the Oval on Sunday.
there are those who will always feel Amir should have been banned for life for his role in the spot-fixing scandal that began when he deliberately bowled no-balls for money at the behest of his captain Salman Butt in the 2010 Lord’s test.
Yet even his detractors cannot deny that Amir’s comeback after serving half his sentence at Feltham Young Offenders Institute a year later and then a five-year suspension from the worldwide game has been little short of remarkable.
Amir returned to international cricket at the start of last year but it has taken him until now, with one of the great new white-ball spells, to show why he became the youngest ever bowler, at 18, to reach 50 test wickets.
there is no doubt Pakistan have accepted their once wayward son back into the fold now, as team-mate Imad Wasim confirmed after Amir thrillingly blew away the Indian top three of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan.
‘I met him during his ban and it was not a good feeling,’ said Swansea-born Imad after Pakistan’s spectacular success.
‘to live for five years without cricket? He was absolutely distracted from everything and he was down and out. But I’ve played with him since 2007 and captained him in Pakistan Under 19s and I’ve always believed in him. I’m one of his best mates and we’ve always wanted him back.’
Imad was there again when Amir made his return to domestic cricket in Pakistan after the International Cricket Council allowed him back six months early because of his contrition and willingness to undergo rehabilitation.
‘It was unbelievable,’ said Imad. ‘He had the same pace, the same everything.
‘He’s just a total natural and you can see how hard he has worked to get back in the way he’s bowling. Whatever happened is in the past now. He’s back as the No 1 bowler in Pakistani cricket and I think the best is yet to come from him.’
the immediate benefactors of that will be Essex, who have signed Amir for the rest of the season and introduced him to supporters at Chelmsford yesterday during the tea interval of the first day of their game against Warwickshire.
Amir, set to make his debut in the floodlit championship match against Middlesex on Monday, was afforded a generous ovation from the Essex crowd before meeting his new team-mates — including Alastair Cook who was dismissed by Amir in that infamous Lord’s test seven years ago.
the former England captain suggested last year any cricketers found guilty of corruption now should be banned for life but the pair shook hands yesterday and Cook is said to have given his new team-mate a warm welcome.
It is the latest chapter in a fresh s start for Amir that will see him b based with his English wife N Narjis’s family in west London while he plays at Chelmsford and awaits the birth of their first child.
He will live close to Feltham w where he spent the three toughest m months of his life.
For the redeemed Mohammad A Amir, it might as well be a world aw away.