Former Pakistan pace prodigy Mohammad Aamer yesterday urged young players to be careful of the company they kept to avoid “destroying” their lives, as he prepared to make his return from a spot-fixing ban.
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The 22-year-old was due to begin his first game back in domestic cricket on Monday but the first two days in the garrison town of Rawalpindi were cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch.
Mohammad Amir’s comeback in domestic cricket hit by rain again. Day 2 of the match between Omar Associates & Pak Army washed out #cricket
— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) March 10, 2015
Aamer was one of three Pakistanis banned from all cricket for at least five years for arranging no-balls to order in a Test against England at Lord’s in 2010. He urged young players to learn from his mistakes and concentrate on the game.
“If you want to achieve something in life you need to be very focused in your goals,” he said after a fielding drill at the army cricket ground in Rawalpindi.
“In these five years I’ve learnt you need to make good friends in life, have good company, don’t destroy your life.”
Aamer, fellow quick bowler Mohammmed Asif and then Pakistan captain Salman Butt were jailed in Britain over the spot-fixing scandal in 2011. Aamer’s ban was originally due to expire on September 2, but the International Cricket Council used discretionary powers to allow him to return to domestic cricket early, citing his early admission of guilt and cooperation with anti-corruption authorities.
Looking more muscular than when he last played competitively, Aamer said he had been working hard on his fitness and had not lost any of the zest that saw him become the youngest bowler, at just 18, to take 50 Test wickets.
“I haven’t played competitive cricket so far – when you play in the rhythm of a match you know what speeds you’re bowling at when you’re at a good ground wearing spikes,” he said.
“I feel in my practice that my pace hasn’t gone down, it’s going to be the same.”
Aamer’s comeback match for the Karachi-based Omar Associates against the Army in Pakistan’s Grade-II cricket league – one rung below first-class – was washed out for the second day yesterday following torrential rainfall last week.
