This may seem a strange thing for an England supporter to write the day after a bowler has just taken seven for 55 against our country, but it just confirmed that we're big fans of Saeed Ajmal here at The Reverse Sweep.
Ajmal adds a splash of colour to an otherwise obdurate and unusually attritional Pakistan side led by the calm and composed Misbah-ul-Haq.
Off the pitch, the ebullient Ajmal understands theatre - one only needs to view his post-match interviews to see that.
He also knows that he has got into the heads of the England batsmen, who simply cannot pick him. As such his pre-series assertion that he had developed a new delivery - the Teesra - in part led to the confusion that unfolded in the middle yesterday. Shane Warne, who has invented more deliveries than the Royal Mail would be proud.
Ajmal is a late-developer - he only made his Test debut at the age of 31, but he has proved a quick learner on the biggest stage (perhaps that understanding of theatre again) and already has 90 wickets in seventeen and a half Tests at a decent average of 28.
Those figures are impressive enough, but since Misbah took over the captaincy in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal in October 2010 and he finally became a first-choice pick, Ajmal has got even better with 60 wickets in nine and a half Tests at 24, with an economy rate of 2.5 and strike rate of a wicket every 57 balls.
He was the leading wicket-taker both in Tests and international cricket in 2010, and if he continues to bamboozle the number one side is likely to usurp Graeme Swann as the best spinner on the planet come the end of the series.
Suggestions that his action is suspect seem like sour grapes to us and thankfully have not been backed up (in public at least) from the England camp. Ajmal is just a damn good bowler who for the England batsmen at least seems impossible to read - an anomaly in this digital age.
Let's hope that Ajmal continues to add an unpredictable splash of colour in the spectacle of Test cricket. With Misbah, Younis Khanand now Ajmal all having been bestowed with hero status here at The Reverse Sweep, Pakistan are rapidly infiltrating our minds. That's mastery of vulcan mind tricks that we can also add to Ajmal's arsenal.
Where next?
Cricket memories of 2011: Pakistan rise from the abyss
The criminally underrated Younis Khan & the criminal negligence of Ijaz Butt
Cricket memories of 2011: Butt, Asif and Amir are sent to jail
How good are this England cricket team?
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep
England were clinical on day two, although the balance is still in Paksitan’s favour. There will be more pad action, keeping umpires and DRS busy with more LBW appeals through the next couple of days. With little deviation and low bounce, LBWs will remain the favoured route for bowlers. Expect Rehman and Ajmal to be a handful in the second innings. England will have to battle hard with the bat next. Game on!
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Cheers
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