“I think he should work on getting closer to the stumps. A lot of the times he will be pitching the ball such that it is knocking middle stump and hitting the batsmen on the pad. But its not out as it is pitched outside leg stump,” Boycott said of Mohammad Aamer.

Legendary former Yorkshire and England batsmen turned commentator Geoffrey Boycott believes Pakistan’s newest pace find, Mohammad Aamer, needs to fine tune his run-up and final delivery stride in order to become a more effective bowler.

The lanky 17 year old left armer from Gujjar Khan, who suffered a groin injury during the recently concluded tour of Australia, has already become the most potent weapon in Pakistan’s pace armoury after having played just 31 international matches and picking up more than 50 wickets. He has been expected to carry the work load for his team ever since he made his debut in the World Twenty20 Championship in England last year but fans and critics alike believe that the enforced break is good for the youngster.

Boycott is already a huge fan of the southpaw and speaking to PakPassion.net he was full of praise for him and feels that he has all the necessary skills to become a cricketing great.

“I think he is very talented and I think Pakistan has always had very talented youngsters. He’s exceptionally good. He’s got pace; he’s got spirit and obviously has got a big heart. It seems he’s always up for the challenge.” stated Boycott from South Africa where he is currently taking a break from commentating duties.

Whilst Boycott holds Aamer in high regards, he does feel that there is one key area of his bowling that he needs to work on to make a bigger impact on opponents.

“I think he should work on getting closer to the stumps. A lot of the times he will be pitching the ball such that it is knocking middle stump and hitting the batsmen on the pad. But its not out as it is pitched outside leg stump. He bowls wide on the crease and needs to get a bit closer to the stumps and work on getting off the pitch fairly quickly after he delivers so that he isn’t running onto the pitch.”

Boycott also feels that ome advice from former left arm pace bowling great Wasim Akram would benefit the youngster.

“In his own time he should talk to someone like Wasim Akram who himself was a magnificent left hand fast bowler and to work it out slowly and surely in his own time. I am not a great believer that when somebody has got some talent, you force it on them. He should explain to him why he needs to get closer to the stumps. For left arm over bowlers, it’s priceless that you have the ability to get lbws.”

Aamer’s bowling statistics indicate exactly what Boycott means. Out of 21 test wickets that the Pakistani has picked only 2 have come as a result of a leg before decision. In ODIs  he has 23 wickets and is yet to obtain an affirmative leg before decision from an umpire. For his nine T20 wickets the reading is similar.