Shoaib's 150km/hr ball scalped Lawson's wicket

Sydney, July 17 (UNI) Though Pakistan's newly appointed coach Geoff Lawson might have shown little interest in the 'pot-boiler' job initially, he revealed that watching speedster Shoaib Akhtar hurl '150km/hr thunderbolts' in a practice game turned him from a 'sceptic into a believer'.

The 49-year-old former Aussie pacer, when first contacted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials, was little interested in taking up late coach Bob Woolmer's vaccant position, but his pessimistic views changed after he visited Pakistan on a PCB invitation to interact with the Board officials and the players.

''When the first call came to see whether I was interested I think the first word I said was 'no','' Lawson said.

''Then I said 1000 planets would have to align before I took the job. But I really changed after going over there. Meeting their board was a very positive experience''.

''Watching Shoaib (Akhtar) in a practice game in Abbotobad turned me from a sceptic into a believer. I hadn't even got out of the car when the first ball I saw him bowl would have been about 150km/h,'' the former New South Wales (NSW) bowling coach told 'The daily Telegraph'.

He, however, sought guarantees from the PCB that there would no repetition of 'drug farce' in Pakistan cricket before agreeing to sign a two-year deal and said he would ''walk'' if there was a repetition of the incident as the entire saga was a poor advertisement of cricket.

Interestingly, Pakistan cricket received a shocker when the pace duo of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif were found guilty of taking the banned drug 'nandrolone' last September just before the ICC Champions Trophy in India. However, later their lengthy bans was quashed on appeal after both of them claimed they unknowingly took the substance.

UNI