Ajmal prefers England over India for bowling test

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Test off-spinner Saeed Ajmal says he will prefer England over India to undergo an informal bowling test on his corrected action in a bid to revive his international career.

Talking to Press Trust of India on Friday, Ajmal said "I will be going for the informal test later this month and it will not be to the bowling centre in Chennai.

I prefer to take the test in England," Ajmal said while talking to Press Trust of India on Friday.Ajmal, who has been suspended from bowling in international cricket since September, said he was confident of clearing the test this time.

"When I took the informal test last time there was improvement in my bowling action and having worked further on it, I am confident this time I will get positive results and all my deliveries should be within the 15-degree limit allowed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to bowlers for straightening their arm," the 37-year-old off-spin wizard said.

Ajmal, a veteran of 35 Tests and 111 ODIs, also made it clear that critics who were questioning his ability to be as effective as before with his modified bowling action said he had a lot of surprises in store for them.

"I have worked on several new deliveries and trajectories in my new action and they are all wicket-taking deliveries. So I am not worried about my ability to be as effective as before.

Right now my concern is my modified action is within the ICC limit," he stated.Ajmal, who has withdrawn himself from the World Cup, said that he has developed new deliveries while working on his action.

"Obviously after modifying my action I have accordingly worked on perfecting other deliveries so it is not that I am just dependent on the 'doosra' now which has caused my action the most problem," he said.

Ajmal also felt that with the crackdown on bowlers by the ICC in recent months the World Cup will be dominated by pace bowlers. "Some key spinners will be missing while even those playing now have pressure on their minds while bowling. So overall I think while spinners will play a role in the World Cup but pacemen should dominate."

The Faisalabad-born cricketer said he was disappointed at missing the World Cup as when he toured Australia before he had enjoyed bowling on the pitches there as they had extra bounce.

"The bounce in Australia is always good for off-spinners like me as there are greater chances of getting the batsmen to edge or miscue a shot," Ajmal stated. Published in Dawn January 10th, 2014