Pakistan pace legend and former captain Wasim Akramwants to play a role in helping the Cricket Board resolve, what he calls, a"crisis" in the fast bowling department.
Wasim said he was willing to not only help the Pakistan CricketBoard in any venture but would also launch his own talent hunt scheme tounearth raw pace talent and then groom them in a specialised camp in April.
"I want to see Pakistan at the top of the cricket worldand the recent performance in the Test series in South Africa has been verydisappointing for me. I strongly believe we can still find exciting new pacetalent in the country," Wasim said.
A debate has been raging in Pakistan cricket after chief selectorIqbal Qasim last week warned that the country could face a pace bowling crisis.
But Wasim, who dominated Pakistan cricket in the 90s and untilhis retirement in 2003 in both the Test and one-day formats taking 414 and 502wickets respectively, said the situation could be rectified.
"Pakistan has always produced exciting and raw pace talentfrom nowhere and I am pretty sure I can find 10 to 12 such bowlers in thecountry after a proper hunt," he said.
"In whatever way whether individually or by helping theboard I am confident the pace crisis can be overcome."
Wasim said he would hold a two-week training camp for pacersin April.
Pakistan has always had a proud history of producing world-classpace bowlers including Fazal Mehmood, Sarfraz Nawaz, Imran Khan, Wasim, WaqarYounis, Shoaib Akhtar and more recently Mohammad Asif but have in recent years struggled in thisdepartment specially on the ongoing tour of South Africa.
Their most experienced pacer, Umar Gul, took just five wicketsin two Tests against South Africa at an average of around 45 and the selectorshad to test six different pacers in the series in which Pakistan waswhitewashed 0-3.
Even Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq has expressed concernover the absence of pacers in the team who are keen to bowl with the new ball.
Wasim said that not having a chance to play international cricketat home has affected the growth of young pacers here.
"I learnt the tricks of the trade mainly gettingexposure against international teams at home. It is ideal for the young pacersto first be groomed in international cricket on home grounds unfortunately thisis not been happening in Pakistan."
No Test team has toured Pakistan since March, 2009 becauseof security concerns after terrorists attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore.
Wasim also felt that the Pakistani bowlers were not focusingenough on Test cricket.
"For a pace bowler it is very important to play maximumTest matches and he will improve a lot because the real Test in cricket is Testmatches. If you are successful in tests you can do well in the other formats aswell," he said.
Interestingly no Pakistani pacer features in thecurrent ICC top-10 Test and ODI bowling rankings.