News: Ashes News

Fawad Ahmed moves closer to Ashes dream

By Ian Ransom

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Pakistan-born refugee Fawad Ahmed has moved a step closer to an improbable test debut in the Ashes after being called up to join Australia 'A' on their tour of England.

The 31-year-old leg spinner arrived in Australia in 2010 on a short-term visa before claiming asylum on the grounds of receiving death threats from Islamic extremists for being involved with a Pakistani NGO promoting women's rights.

Although granted asylum and permanent residency last year, Ahmed remains ineligible to play test cricket for Australia but his hopes of securing citizenship and a passport to England were boosted on Wednesday by the passage of draft legislation through the country's lower house of parliament.

The legislation, which would allow for top cricketers to join a select list of elite athletes eligible to have their citizenship applications fast-tracked, is likely to pass through the upper house when it sits later this month.

Without the passage of the bill, the earliest Ahmed could be eligible to play for Australia's test side would be for the fifth and final match of the Ashes series on August 18.

Ahmed's rapid rise from Australia's club cricket leagues to the verge of national selection has captivated the nation, and a large scrum of reporters assembled at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday as the cricketer spoke of a "new journey".

"It's just like a dream. Someone dreaming with open eyes," he said at the MCG's indoor cricket nets.

"I never expected that it would happen like this, after three and a half years (in Australia).

"I just came here for a better life and I was thinking just to survive here and to be like other people that came here as an immigrant. But this is a dream. Even I couldn't imagine this.

"This is something unbelievable for me."

Born in Swabi, a rural district fringed by the Hindu Kush mountains and the Indus river, Ahmed has a modest record of 39 first class wickets at an average of 32.20 since making his debut for Abbottabad in 2005.

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

But his performance in three matches for Victoria state in Australia's first-class Sheffield Shield competition earlier this year piqued the interest of Australia's test selectors, who have few top-class spinners to choose from.

In between, Ahmed played cricket for a succession of local clubs in New South Wales state and Melbourne while his application for asylum was considered, and suffered sleepless nights after it was initially rejected last year.

He was later granted asylum after appealing directly to the immigration minister with the support of Cricket Australia.

Australia included just one spinner, right-arm orthodox Nathan Lyon, in the squad for the Ashes series, despite chairman of selectors John Inverarity strongly hinting before the team was announced that there would be two.

Australia have lost both Ashes series since leg spinner Shane Warne retired from international cricket in 2007 and the current crop of spinners were given a torrid time during a 4-0 series thrashing by India earlier this year.

Ahmed has been described by several former Australian players as the best leg spinner they had seen since Warne, and has enjoyed special tuition from former test spinner Stuart MacGill and training at Brisbane's Centre of Excellence.

He will join the Australia 'A' team this weekend and would be available for selection for their match against Ireland starting on June 14.

Ahmed said he felt no fear of facing the cream of England's batsmen, who would be eager to crush the player's confidence quickly should he be selected for the first Ashes test at Nottingham's Trent Bridge on July 10.

"I don't think so. I've been through really tough times, and I'm strong enough and I'm feeling really great," Ahmed said.

"I have really good confidence and faith in myself and I'm just waiting for that opportunity." (Additional reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by John O'Brien)

source: http://cricket.yahoo.com