KEY POINTS:
The image of Shoaib Akhtar that should have endured was fashioned on a warm Manchester afternoon in 1999. He strode back to his mark, swept back his mane of dark hair and roared in, arms flailing, back arched.
The ball was released at 148km/h, swung late, pitched later
and uprooted Stephen Fleming's off stump.
Pakistan were on their way to the World Cup final, propelled by the 23-year-old fast bowler hailed already as the "Rawalpindi Express".
Shoaib had the world at his feet, a raw natural talent with movie star looks, the vivid demeanour to go with them - and thus the capacity to thrill audiences anywhere. And that lethal ball to Fleming embodied it all.
In the years that followed, sadly, the image was tarnished. It became grubby and was replaced, or at least accompanied, by something altogether less alluring. Wherever Shoaib went, whatever he did, trouble was nearby.
He was forgiven much, indeed almost everything, for what he could bring on to a cricket field. Nothing in the game, not a Brian Lara batting or a Shane Warne bowling, can quite match watching a genuine speed merchant in full flow and Shoaib's flow was a raging torrent.
But on Wednesday, finally - inevitably - his international career reached a sad conclusion when he was banned for five years by the Pakistan Cricket Board. Pending an appeal - and, given his previous appeals, success should not be discounted - that would seem to be it for him as an international.
If the appeal were to fail, then he would be 37 by the time he was able to resume his career with Pakistan. That's not an age notable for the pomp of fast bowlers.
The PCB seem at last to have had enough. "The board has lost confidence in Shoaib Akhtar and therefore felt his presence in the field was damaging to the Pakistan team, for Pakistan players and for the image of Pakistan cricket," said PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf. "He will be ineligible to play in Pakistan or for Pakistan anywhere in the world. It is a sad day for Shoaib Akhtar. He is such a talented player."
Indeed, he is a talented player with a mercurial personality - which may be demonstrated later this month. The punishment does not extend to Shoaib playing for teams outside Pakistan and he has been signed for US$425,000 ($537,000) to represent Kolkata in the Indian Premier League. It would be typical of him to run amok.
His rap sheet is long, though what finally brought him down was a relatively trifling misdemeanour. Shoaib berated the PCB in print for offering him a retainer instead of a central contract and was charged with publicly criticising them.
Consider that in the past nine years he has been accused (and cleared) of throwing; convicted of taking a performance enhancing drug; hitting fellow fast bowler Mohammad Asif with a cricket bat; banned for ball tampering, and using obscene and offensive language. He also had a logo on his bat that was judged too large.
The "chucking" charge was thrown out when his arm was found to be hyperextended. Although to the naked eye at his furious, frenetic, glorious best it still looked decidedly impure, you were always caught up in the majesty of the moment.
For the drugs offence he was sent home from the 2006 Champions Trophy but the subsequent ban was later lifted, risibly. For striking Asif, he was dismissed from the World Twenty20 last year and later fined 3.4 million rupees ($100,000) and banned for 13 matches.
He was on a kind of cricketing parole when he opened his mouth last month. At various times in between, he has been lacklustre and at odds with captains and coaches. All could see his worth, which Shoaib himself also recognised fully. But he sent them into despair. When Bob Woolmer was coach of Pakistan, he reckoned he could deal with Shoaib, but the hangers-on - "gangsters" Woolmer called them - proved too much.
He spent an inordinate time trying to become the first fast bowler to reach 100mph, which he achieved at Cape Town in the 2003 World Cup. But did it really matter? There should and could have been considerably more than 46 test matches and 138 ODIs. A record 178 wickets at 25.70 in the former and 219 at 23.20 with a strike-rate under 30 in the latter hardly constitute either failure. And yet ...
Perhaps his finest series was against England in 2005. He took 17 wickets in three matches, including five in the last innings, and was utterly compelling throughout.
It is characteristic of Shoaib that he can see no wrong in anything he has done. He said he would go to court to appeal. But it was the "little boy lost" impression that caught the eye - if it did not this time melt the heart.
"Ask the captain, ask coach Geoff Lawson and they would vouch for me. I had played with high fever on the India tour last year, which proved my commitment. I bowl fast so am prone to injuries but I have given my heart, body and soul to this team. I know some vested interest did not want me to be part of the team, but I will be back."
He had hoped an apology for his latest outburst against the board would suffice. But he was wrong. There was plenty of evidence last year he still had it when he was constantly dismissing top-order batsmen with the new ball.
But if he was not a divisive influence, he was never a unifying one either. Teams can put up with a great deal from a man who is going to take five wickets and put the fear of Allah into opponents but Shoaib seemed never to get it. He appeared to assume that one more excess could merely be followed by one more apology and then the show could go on. The show might have stopped for good.
- INDEPENDENT
