Pakistan pacer Hasan Ali looking to pick James Anderson’s brains during Lancashire county stint

By IANS

LONDON: Pakistan pace bowler Hasan Ali has said he is going to pick England bowling stalwart James Anderson’s brains on the art of swing bowling during his stint with county side Lancashire.

The 27-year-old Hasan Ali is set to play for Lancashire in six County Championship games as an overseas player in the upcoming season of England’s first-class competition.

Anderson is the highest Test wicket-taker among pace bowlers in the world with 640 scalps from 169 Tests. The 39-year-old was dropped from the three-Test away series against the West Indies, which the Joe Root-led side lost 0-1 recently.

Anderson has vowed to wrest back his place in the Test side with a good showing in county cricket playing for Lancashire, where he will share the ball with Hasan Ali.

Hasan Ali, who is currently No.15 in the ICC Test rankings for bowlers, said he was “very excited” to share the dressing room with Anderson, the third-highest wicket-taker in Test history behind former Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and the late spin legend Shane Warne.

“I’m very excited and looking forward to sharing the dressing room with their players; obviously we have Jimmy bhai, Jimmy Anderson, so I’m very happy and very excited,” Hasan told ESPNcricinfo.

Hasan added that he’d never interacted with Anderson before, but would now be picking his brains whenever he could. “Honestly, I never spoke with him before. But now I’m going to have a lot of questions to ask him. I’m going to disturb him,” he said.

“We know he’s a great bowler. He swings the ball both ways. I’m going to learn how he swings the ball both ways, especially the cross-seam ball. I’m going to learn it.”