Amir signs Pakistan pacer joins county for three games
GLOUCESTERSHIRE have signed former Pakistan International bowler Mohammad Amir on a three-match-deal, and he is set to make his LV= Insurance County Championship debut against Surrey at Bristol, starting tomorrow (Thursday).
The 30-year-old left-arm pace bowler will also be available for subsequent games against Hampshire and Somerset.
Amir has played in 36 Test matches for Pakistan and has 119 Test wickets to his name and arrives as cover for the absent Naseem Shah, who will be unavailable until the T20 Vitality Blast campaign.
Amir said: “The County Championship is an amazing competition and I can’t wait to get going with Gloucestershire. I love playing in English conditions and I’m feeling really good, so I hope I can perform well for the team.
“I’m excited for the challenge and will try my best to help Gloucestershire win some matches.”
Amir made his Test debut for Pakistan against Sri Lanka in 2009, at the age of 17, and became the youngest bowler in history to take 50 Test wickets.
Amir went on to enjoy a successful international career and made a combined 147 appearances in IT20, ODI and Test matches over an 11-year period.
He has experience of English cricket having enjoyed two spells at Essex as an overseas signing in 2017 and 2019.
In 2017 he featured for Essex during their title-winning County Championship campaign and in the T20 Blast, in which he took a combined 28 wickets across both competitions.
Steve Snell, Performance Director at Gloucestershire, said: “We are delighted to have signed a bowler of Amir’s calibre.
“We will sadly be without Naseem for a few weeks due to injury and while we help him get back to full fitness, Amir will provide us with quality and international experience.
“Amir fits the bill perfectly for what we need and we’re confident he will be a great addition to the squad.
“He has indicated his hunger and desire to make pivotal contributions during his time with us.”
Gloucestershire face Surrey still looking for the first Championship win of the season after Lancashire beat them by an innings and 57 runs despite some brilliant resistance from a determined Gloucestershire side at Emirates Old Trafford.
Resuming on 67 for three, the visitors faced the unenviable task of seeing off a Red Rose attack full of international class with James Anderson, Saqib Mahmood and Matt Parkinson all keen to prove their credentials to England’s new look regime.
But it took until just before 6pm on the final day for Lancashire to seal victory as Gloucestershire were dismissed for 247, with 23 balls remaining, still 57 runs short of the host’s mammoth first innings total of 556 for seven.
Skipper Graeme van Buuren said: “I am immensely proud of the boys. Every week they put up their hands and fight - you can never write us off.
“The stress levels were hectic and I think there are a lot of tired bodies after facing that world-class bowling line up.
“Small little things are letting us down at the moment but we will work hard to fix those.
“I don’t know if it’s a lack of concentration but those little periods of the game are costing us.
“We are very close to competing even better than we are at the moment.
“We would never have even been playing for the draw if it had not been for Zafar (Gohar).
“He is such a magician and he didn’t moan once - he just kept asking for the ball and he bowled fantastically well.”
Earlier in the day, the visitor’s resistance had lasted around an hour before Parkinson’s leg breaks made the difference in just his third over as he got one to turn and edge van Buuren’s bat on its way to Luke Wells at slip.
With their leader departing for 15 it would have been easy for Gloucestershire to crumble and that looked like exactly what would happen when Ryan Higgins was immediately dismissed first ball by a Parkinson beauty which turned from leg and clipped the top of off stump to leave them 85 for five.
Then 115 for five at lunch became 122 for six soon after the interval when the previously redoubtable Miles Hammond, who had compiled 50 from 154 balls, was adjudged lbw to hand the returning Anderson his second wicket of the match.
Gohar was then bowled by Parkinson for three to leave Gloucestershire staring into the abyss at 127 for seven but Gloucestershire found some much-needed fight in the form of Tom Lace and Josh Shaw.
Lace reached his half-century from 130 balls and the eighth wicket pair had put on 79 when Hassan Ali entered the contest in typically flamboyant fashion as he conjured up a follow up to his stump splitting exploits the day previously.
Shaw, who had reached 29 with a clever poke through the slip cordon, seemed to provoke the Pakistani paceman into bowling two bouncers accompanied by a chorus of verbals before the third ball ripped into Shaw’s off stump.
Lancashire must have felt like the eighth wicket was the catalyst for victory but they reckoned without Lace and the incoming Jared Warner - by 5pm the pair had batted for 21 overs with barely an attacking shot between them save for a mistimed cut from Lace that was shelled by Steven Croft at second slip off Mahmood.
Lace’s determined vigil finally ended with a little over 30 minutes of play left with the bizarre sight of umpire Richard Illingworth forced to raise his finger despite the batsman’s leg bail being dislodged somehow by a wicked delivery from Mahmood that hit the top of off stump.
Lace faced 201 balls for his 71 and along with Warner brought Gloucestershire to within sight of the finish line.
But it was not to be. With just 23 balls remaining, the brilliant Hassan, who finished with match figures of nine for 96 on his home debut, enticed Warner, who had faced 119 balls for his 10 runs, to edge one to wicket keeper Phil Salt to spark the celebrations.
Small little things are letting us down at the moment but we will work hard to fix those Gloucestershire skipper Graeme van Buuren