By Callum Dent
The high-profile signing of Shoaib Malik gives Birmingham Bears an extra ingredient in this season’s NatWest T20 Blast, according to director of cricket Dougie Brown.
The Bears announced the capture of the Pakistan international in March and, after arriving earlier than originally planned, he will play the first of seven matches in tomorrow night's North Group fixture against Durham Jets at Edgbaston.
An accomplished top-order batsman who has the ability to bowl mystery spin, sprint-format veteran Malik ticks all the right boxes for the Bears.
Brown told ecb.co.uk:“He’s a world-class player. He’s is someone who has played a lot of Twenty20 cricket and he is very experienced.
“He gives us a different dimension to what maybe we have had. He is very good at playing on slow, low wickets which is maybe what we need. He offers us a bit of mystery with the ball.
“He bowls really good off-spin and bowls doosras as well. As well as being a very good top-order batter, if he offers the ability to bowl four overs as well, then he is a very good commodity.
“He was somebody that we, first and foremost, thought was going to pump up the squad.
“We wanted a top-class cricketer, something to offer with the ball, something to offer with the bat at the top of the order and somebody who could take that role on for us and perform.
“Everybody is thoroughly looking forward to having him around for the next month and a half.”
Having played Twenty20 cricket all around the world, including the Indian Premier and Big Bash Leagues, the 32-year-old arrives in England with a wealth of experience.
Add that to the fact he has had an impressive international career for Pakistan, for whom he has played 32 Tests, 216 one-day internationals and 59 Twenty20s, and Brown believes his signing boosts the Bears’ chances of reaching Finals Day on their home ground.
The Scot said: “We have sort of said to ourselves as a club that we need to try not to pay more attention to Twenty20 cricket, but to take it for what it is. The club has been very good in investing in it and are very keen for us to perform very well in Twenty20.
“With Twenty20 Finals Day at Edgbaston, it would be great if we could have some representation there on the day. It would make it a very special occasion for the club. I think everybody understands that.
“Hence the extra input from the club with a second overseas player, something we have never really had before. He is here for a decent amount of time in the tournament before he goes to the Caribbean Premier League.
“Hopefully we can use his experience and skills and get us through the next seven games in a really positive way.
“If you do well over the next seven games, which is the time he is here for, it really boosts you going into the back end of the tournament.”
Brown hopes the experience of Malik will rub off on the club’s youngsters, adding: “That is the plan. We have always been pretty competitive for periods of the game without necessarily getting across the finishing line.
“I think his experience, ability and certainly his knowledge of playing in different conditions around the world will help us. We have got quite a young squad and we are keen to bring through a few younger players.
“If he can enthuse and motivate the rest of the squad with his own individual performances, then it puts us in a really good space going into the back end.”