We have largely agreed here that Amir has broken his ban - however, i love these stories from the players (in today's torygraph)
Matthew Quade, St Luke’s wicketkeeper
We realised who he was only when the team sheets were handed in just before the toss. Of course we knew about the ban, but Addington told us that they had got permission to field him.
“We were a bit daunted but it was a great opportunity to face one of the world’s great bowlers. Rather than the bowling it was his batting that did the damage. He opened for them and scored 60 very rapidly. I think we dropped him on 25 though.
“His first over he was obviously holding back and was hit for seven runs, which he clearly didn’t enjoy because he stepped it up a gear in the next over. I would say even though he wasn’t bowling at full capacity he was still at least 10 miles per hour faster than anything we normally face.
“His bowling was so accurate, very impressive indeed. I would describe the standard of our games as average and he certainly wasn’t that. It was fantastic for us to play against such a big name in the game even if he did take four for nine. I faced two balls from him and survived them so I was delighted.”
Raheal Shafi, Addington batsman
He arrived really early with a few of the other guys. He was very down-to-earth. No one would have known he was an international star. He was giving tips to some of the lads on how to bowl and he just got on with playing cricket.
“I sat next to him during tea and he was telling us all about the kind of standards and facilities of the stuff you get during tea at Lord’s. We just had egg and tuna sandwiches.
“He was probably holding back his pace but he was still very quick to the other guys. The keeper took a couple of short ones and said he bowled quick. Most of the guys at our level don’t wear helmets but they did on Saturday. In fact even he did when he went out to bat. He did not like the pitch and it was not really up to the standard that he is used to.
“He was a nice guy and I just hope playing for us does not get him into trouble. We thought we would ask if he was available and would like to play the rest of the season for us, so it came as a big shock to find it all in the newspapers.”
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Topic: Amir breaks ban (Read 10007 times)