It’s a Blast for Boom-Boom

Afridi, Nash and Goodwin back in business

Shahid Afridi has for a long time been one of the most irrepressible characters in world cricket. However, as his form began to fade beneath the shadow of his reputation, it became inevitable that the Pakistan selectors would wield the knife. Perhaps surprisingly, he never established a lasting career in Test cricket but with over 7,000 runs and 350 wickets in ODIs, his place in history was complete. If his nation had performed well in the Champions Trophy, maybe his international retirement would have been confirmed at the age of 33.

However, that didn't happen and he was recalled to the team for the West Indies tour. Wow, did he grab that opportunity! In Guyana, he began with a typical 'boom-boom' innings of 76 in 55 balls. That could have won him the Man of the Match award on its own, but he wasn't finished there. The home batsmen completely capitulated to his looping leg-breaks and googlies, and Afridi finished with 7-12 in nine overs! It's an ODI innings aggregate beaten only by Chaminda Vaas' 8-19 against Zimbabwe (including the Flower brothers) twelve years ago. Maybe there's plenty more cricket to come from the 'star man'!

Shahid Afridi gives another Zimbabwean, Murray Goodwin, seven whole years. The vastly experienced batsman, whose brief Test career had ended prior to that humiliation at the hands of Vaas, is now seeing out his time at Glamorgan. Despite his shedful of runs made for Sussex over the years, to be honest I didn't expect that much from him in 2013. However, after 86 and 56 not out against Hampshire last week, he trumped that with 194 at Old Trafford yesterday. He has a whopping 36,000 runs under his belt in all forms of the sport so, like Afridi, there would appear to be life in this old dog yet.

Brendan Nash is another man in the latter stages of his cricketing career. An interesting player, particularly because he is one of the rare white men to have represented the West Indies in recent years. Born in Australia with a Jamaican father, he blazed a trail in Oz before transferrig to his father's island. There he played his way into a Test batting line-up featuring Gayle, Chanderpaul and Sarwan and was far from disgraced. Indeed, he became vice-captain in 2011 but after a poor series in India, he was jettisoned, but is now wnjoying a new lease of life with Kent.

Last week, his 199 was instrumental in winning a match which should not have been Kent'sn after Gloucestershire racked up 562-5 declared in their first innings. What made that performance especially extraordinary was that the heat at Cheltenham forced him to retire ill. On 199! Could he not have kept going for just another single?! Fortunately, Charlie Shreck kept the innings moving and Kent won by two wickets late in the afternoon. To Nash's credit, he didn't rest up for a week and, with temperatures again in the high 20s, he notched another century. His 126 played second fiddle to Rob Key's 180 but at least Nash seems to have galvanised the worst team in the Championship so that their season may have turned for the better. Just goes to show you can never write off a star performer. Shahid Afridi and Murray Goodwin will echo that.

Player of the Week: Shahid Afridi

I'll come straight out with it this time and declare Shahid Afridi to be my Player of the Week but the Pakistani all-rounder didn't have it all his own way. India's venerable batting stars Laxman and Dravid each reached three figures in their win against West Indies although MS Dhoni's 144 stole the show. Yadav also looked the part with the ball, although he will face sterner challenges than the currently weak Caribbean opposition.

In domestic competitions there were impressive feats from young batsmen. Riki Wessels, the England-qualified son of Aussie-South African opener Kepler was in action in Zimbabwe, scoring a career-best 197 and 89 not out for the Rhinos in Bulawayo. Abhishek Nayar may not be a spring chicken at 28, but he had a pretty fruitful week for Mumbai. First he took the Rajasthan attack for 243, followed by an unbeaten 191 against Karnataka. he looks a rarity in this day and age in that he has the game suited for first-class cricket while his T20 record is decidedly average. He was dropped after three ODI appearances in 2009 despite barely facing a ball but he is one of a long list of good left-handers vying for a Test place if and when the old-stagers take their bow.

In New Zealand, Martin Guptill made a big hundred while his 21 year-old team-mate Kane Williamson went even higher, slamming 284 not out and taking 3-43 for Northern Districts. Like Nayar, he is no T20 biff-bang merchant but he shows considerable promise in the longer formats, something his country really needs.

But from biff-bang I must return to 'Boom-Boom' - and Mr. Afridi, who deliberately eschews Test cricket for the one-dayers. I think it's a great shame because he is one of those cricketers who can seemingly do anything. Weirdly he opened the batting (unsuccessfully, I should add) in his debut Test as an 18 year-old against Australia, but took 5-52, including both Waugh brothers in the same over. Since then, he has played only 26 more Tests but has taken his ODI total to 329! The quick fifty and occasional wicket have become his speciality, accumulating almost 7000 runs and more than 300 wickets along the way.

Ironically, while fans flock to watch him flay bowling in T20 matches, his record with the bat is mediocre while it's his loping leg-spin which has been his greatest strength. In 98 twenty-over contests he has taken 120 wickets with an exceptional economy rate of just 6.30 an over. However, it is for this week's 50-over performances for Pakistan against Sri Lanka that he wins my award. In three games, he scored 29 (in 14 balls), 15 and 75, allied to 2-35, 2-42 and finally a match-winning 5-35. That's a darned impressive sequence in top-flight competition!