Darren Gough: “When he wanted to bowl quick, he was ridiculously fast”

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Former England fast bowler Darren Gough has revealed that legendary Pakistan seamer Shoaib Akhtar was “ridiculously fast”.

Gough recalled facing Akhtar and admitted that he was lightning quick.

He even went as far as conceding that he couldn’t see the ball when Akhtar was bowling.

“Shoaib was the new kid on the block, obviously younger than me, but he was horrible to face,” Gough told PakPassion. “I remember at Durham defending a ball from him on the back foot and much to my amazement it went for four and I thought ‘oh dear me!’

“He wasn’t impressed and the next two balls were lightning fast and whistled past my ears. When he wanted to bowl quick, he was ridiculously fast. Even off a short run-up in Sharjah when Robert Croft and I were batting, he was bowling really fast.

“Crofty just would not run when I wanted a single whilst facing Shoaib. He made sure that he stayed at the non-striker’s end and didn’t face him.

“He bowled me out with an amazing yorker at Cardiff when I was 35 years old. It was rapid, I never even saw it. When he wanted to be, he was quicker than anybody else and he was a ridiculous talent.”

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