Wasim Akram agrees to conduct camps for pace bowlers

Karachi: Pakistan's former captain Wasim Akram has agreed to conduct camps for pace bowlers twice a year in the country.

The legend made it clear that while Pakistan had good pace bowling talent there was a dire need to fine tune this them or it could be wasted.

Akram was speaking today at the conclusion of the two- week long camp for fast bowlers he conducted at the national stadium.

Young and unknown Bilal Shah from Mardan won the best young fast bowler award with a cash award of 100,000 rupees while the PCB also awarded 50,000 each to four other young pacers Afraz Khoso (Sukkur), Aijaz Ali (Charsada), Muhammad Ameer (Peshawar) and Muhammad Adeel of Quetta.

PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan told a media conference that Akram had always wanted to help Pakistan cricket but no one had approached him properly in the past.

"This time we spoke to him and we have now convinced him to hold at least two camps in a year for young bowlers and he has agreed," Khan said.

"The purpose of these camps would be to scout new pace talent and allow Wasim to work with them."

Akram, who took 414 Test and 502 ODI wickets in an illustrious career, said that unless Pakistan managed to fine tune and develop its young pace talent it could in future face problems in this department.

"You can't transfer everything to a young pacer in two to three weeks time but my aim was to fine tune them and educate them about basic techniques, share with them my experiences and pass on tips to them to become better bowlers at every level," he said.

He said he was impressed with some of the youngsters in the camp who had worked hard on their fitness and skills.

"I am hopeful that now when these group of bowlers go on and play domestic cricket or international cricket they wouldn't be completely clueless about how to be successful bowlers," he added.

When a reporter asked Akram whether he had been in touch with his former teammate and pace partner Waqar Younis who is now head coach of the Pakistan team, the former captain said they spoke over phone and exchanged notes.

The PCB chairman was also asked why Waqar's vast experience as a fast bowler was not being utilised by conducting similar camps and Khan said there were some plans being made.