Pakistan teen Naseem Shah tipped to torment England ahead of First Test

Shah made his Test debut at 16 against Australia in November
Getty Images
Will Macpherson3 August 2020

Pakistan head coach and former captain Misbah-ul-Haq has warned England ahead of Wednesday’s First Test that in 17-year-old Naseem Shah his team have a “complete bowler” who can “win a Test match on his own”.

Shah made his Test debut against Australia in November, when he was 16, and has taken 13 wickets in his first four matches — including a hat-trick in Pakistan’s most recent Test, against Bangladesh in February.

Misbah said: “Before going to Australia, Waqar Younis and me just saw him in the Gaddafi Stadium and at that time he just looked like a complete bowler. We could see the potential, but now we’ve got the evidence at international level. He has a hat-trick and five-fors.

“If you see his experience and his cricket, then the sample size is too small, but he’s already fulfilling his potential. He is one who could win a Test match on his own, so we’re looking forward for him to emerge as a very good bowler in this series.”

Misbah was Pakistan’s captain when they drew 2-2 with England in 2016 and brings with him an exciting crop of fast bowlers. Mohammad Abbas is likely to lead an attack which also contains 20-year-old Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in