With a review of England’s bowling attack imminent, this is an exciting time to be a rising swing bowler and a good performance for Worcestershire in the C&G Trophy semi-final against Lancashire at New Road next Saturday could do him a lot of good. There, he will form a potent new-ball partnership with Nantie Hayward, whose falling out with the South Africa board looks less harmful to his country’s prospects in the current Test series than it once did.
Worcestershire also hope to secure the release for the match of another South African, Andrew Hall, added to the touring party as cover for Jacques Kallis but sure to stay with them beyond Kallis’s return on Tuesday after his impressive bowling on the first day of the Lord’s Test. If he plays, Worcestershire could be quite a handful, even for Lancashire.
Far from thinking about England, Kabir is anxious to produce the goods for his county first. A prolific wicket-taker in all other forms of county cricket, he has experienced a barren time in his side’s Trophy run and has yet to take a wicket. Nine overs against Worcestershire Board XI, seven against Yorkshire, six against Leicestershire, and nothing to show from any of them. “I didn’t bowl at my best,” he concedes.
Things got worse before they got better. Shortly after the quarter-final, he went off to join England’s one-day squad — an uplifting assignment except that he was chosen to play just one match, against Zimbabwe in Leeds, which was ruined by rain. He never even took the field.
He returned to New Road down after spending the best part of six weeks as net bowler to England’s top order. “It was a great experience but it was frustrating not playing, and it took time to get back into things.” But get back into things he did, with a four-wicket haul against Surrey in a one-day match and a career-best haul of eight Derbyshire wickets for 58 in the championship at New Road in a classic display of swing bowling — four lbws, three bowled and a caught behind. Of all the fast bowlers in county cricket, Kabir is among the most dangerous along with Jimmy Ormond, of Surrey, who may be first in line if England do go in search of somebody who can remember how to swing a ball.
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Kabir’s family history tells a story increasingly familiar to English cricket. His grandfather emigrated from Kashmir and settled in Birmingham, where Kabir was born. The family was mad about cricket: when Kabir, the eldest of three sons and three daughters, was born, the first thing his father did was stroke a cricket ball across the boy’s forehead.
Kabir spent his formative years back in Kashmir. Had he stayed there, he would almost certainly have been lost to cricket because sports facilities in the war-torn region became overgrown and neglected. Fortunately, he came back to Britain, where his father erected a cricket net and bowling machine in the garden. Kabir was soon working his way up through the Warwickshire youth system. He moved from there to play for Worcestershire at the age of 18.
“My father and uncle played club cricket every weekend,” he said. “I owe everything to my father’s hard work and the time he has given up for me. I’ve always wanted to play for England,” he said. “In the part of Birmingham I come from, we all support England.”
If his action wasn’t smooth when he started, it is now. After suffering a double stress fracture of the back, he came back with a more chest-on action and has been pain-free since. Last year, his haul of 71 first-class wickets was the third-best in the country and to that he had added, before yesterday, 44 more at 22.9 apiece this season.
He looks a natural wicket-taker, but whether he can take the step up remains to be seen. Two expensive overs when he turned out for England against Australia A in a Sydney day-nighter last winter suggests Marsh’s criticism held some truth. But he’s constantly refining new tricks and has got time on his side. Few of his type of bowler mature before 25.
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Kabir’s cousins are professional cricketers. Kadeer Ali, a batsman, is on Worcestershire’s books and may play against Lancashire, and Moeen Munir Ali is with Warwickshire. Kadeer has been placed on the shortlist for this winter’s national academy intake.
Kabir will be happy to go back to the academy if he’s chosen, but hopes to stay in England’s one-day plans at the least. If not, he will continue with a business administration course at Wolverhampton University. He’s nothing if not well balanced.