Late post- BOTD Sept 6- Saeed Anwar

First of all, I know I should have posted this yesterday, but the net connection at home wasn't working as well as it should have (yes, it's been fixed, but barely seems any better than having no connection). But better late than never, and this being a post for my sis' birthday, I couldn't shelve it.
Now, coming to the choice of BOTD for today. I would, in 999999 cases out of 1000000, pick Roger Waters for the BOTD when it happens to also be his birthday. But, I said I would pick someone of my sis' preference, and from the list I saw on Wikipedia, that turned out to be Pakistani cricketer Saeed Anwar.
Saeed Anwar, for those who don't know, was a very accomplished Pakistani batsman who still holds the record for the highest individual score in a limited overs match (194 vs India in 1997). He was a naturally elegant player who used his wrists to steer the ball away for runs rather than merely bludgeoning the ball. He could, however, adapt very well to the situation, and could switch fairly easily between dour defence and freeflowing attack. An opening batsman, he combined his ability with rare concentration and was one of the greatest accumulators of runs around the turn of the century, and was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997.
In his later years, he had a bad spell of form, which coincided with the unfortunate demise of his daughter in 2001 at the tender age of three. Following this tragedy Anwar became a born-again Muslim, taking a break from cricket and serving as a devout Muslim. He eventually returned to cricket, with a very noticeable beard, as part of a Pakistani team full of similarly reborn Muslims. At the 2003 World Cup, Anwar was one of the few Pakistanis to perform well, but following the team's disappointing showing he was axed, as were many other senior players in the squad. In his retirement, he is now part of Tablighi Jamaat, and regularly goes out to preach Islam.

I should point out that my call for BOTD would have been Roger Waters, frontman of Pink Floyd. While his biog will have to wait until next year (and it will definitely show up next year...), here's a clip of him performing 'Mother'



(Belated) Happy birthday, sis