Hasan Ali has been on fire for Lancashire so far ever since the Pakistan fast bowler made his debut in County Championship and having the impact that is reminiscent of what was pulled off by his compatriot Wasim Akram for over a decade.
Wasim, one of the all-time great fast bowlers and a Lancashire legend, played 91 first-class and 165 one-dayers for the English side and ended up contributing to Lancashire’s five of seven one-day trophies during 1988 to 1998.
The right-arm quick has played two games so far for the English county side and has been decisive in both. After debuting with a fifer, the latest game against Gloucestershire saw Ali bag a nine-wicket haul. And despite Lancashire winning by an innings and 57 runs, Gloucestershire’s tail-ender Jared Warner was taking the game to a draw with a gritty 10-run knock off 119 balls on the fourth and final day of the Test match.
It was Ali who drew the crucial first blood to break a 119-run opening stand in the game’s first innings, after which Gloucestershire collapsed to 252 all out with Ali cleaning up the tail to grab a six-fer.
Lancashire went on to reply with a huge 556 for seven and thus had eliminated the possibility of them losing. In the second innings on day four, Lancashire had Gloucestershire cornered at 127 for seven but the game was all but dead and buried.
Lower-middle order batter Tom Lace and tail-ender Josh Shaw, at number eight, first frustrated Lancashire to stitch a 79-run stand in 21 overs. Lancashire turned to Hasan Ali to bowl Shaw out on 29 and with the crucial breakthrough, the end seemed to draw near. However, Jared at number 10 joined set batter Lace and further frustrated Lancashire by negotiating 17 more overs and suddenly the draw was on the cards until Lace departed on 71.
Jared’s valiant effort, in the end, went in vain as the lad from Punjab got the batter caught behind to grab his third wicket of the innings and the ninth wicket of the match.