Sri Lanka Cricket lures King of Swing Akram

Thursday, 1 December 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Cricket yesterday announced that the man considered by many to be the best left-arm fast bowler of all time and an absolute legend in world cricket, Wasim Akram, would conduct a special workshop in Colombo today at the SSC.

Pakistan’s King of Swing, and the man known to have complete mastery over swing and seam, is in town at the invitation of Sri Lanka Cricket President Thilanga Sumathipala and graced Sri Lanka Cricket’s annual awards night on 30 November as a Guest of Honour.

Akram will launch SLC’s latest initiative in the development of the game with the first of a series of Brainstorm events to be conducted by international cricketing legends over the next few months with the inaugural event mentored by him on 1 December and the workshop will be attended by Sri Lanka’s national players and coaching staff.

Akram is hailed as the ‘redefinition’ of fast bowling, with cricket pundits hailing his mastery of the ball as the turning point of fast bowling. Over a 19-year career Akram has taken both Test and ODI wickets all over the world with what was termed “mindboggling consistency” by one writer.

Sri Lanka Cricket President Thilanga Sumathipala said: “With the amazing young talent that Sri Lanka is just brimming with at the moment, the World Cup in 2019 is fast becoming a reality. We have already put the technical and scientific pillars in place. The invaluable insight our players can gain from the vast reservoir of knowledge and expertise of world cricket’s legends will provide them with the store of game-knowledge they will need.”

“A cricketer and a gentleman of the caliber of Mr. Akram is the ideal mentor to give wing to this latest initiative of SLC by which we intend to invite a series of such legends of the game to conduct workshops with our players, and also to mentor our coaches to perpetuate that learning. We are honoured that Mr. Akram has accepted our invitation to be a part of this initiative,” Sumathipala said.