'Judge him on his performance, not how he looks': Former cricketers compare Fawad Alam's stance to George Bailey

Veteran Pakistan batsman Fawad Alam - who made his Test comeback after 11 years - grabbed eyeballs for his unusual batting stance during the final Test against England.

As his batting stance grabbed attention, conversations of batsmen with similar stances were brought to the table - and one notably being that of George Bailey.

Alam’s stance reminded former England captains and current commentators Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain of former Australia captain Bailey.

August 23, 2020

Bailey had led Australia in 57 out of his 120 white-ball matches. After retiring from all forms of cricket, he became an Australian national selector. 

While the right-hand batsman supported a textbook-like stance for the most part of his career, the last few years nearly saw him not watching the bowler in his run-up.

While comparisons were drawn, Tom Moody - an Australian cricket coach, commentator and former international cricketer - stated that Alam has an unorthodox stance, but he should be judged for his performance.

Moody on Twitter wrote, "Yes Fawad Alam has an unorthodox stance but at point of ball release he’s in a solid position, judge him on his performance over time, not how he looks. We have seen many exceptional test players with eccentric approaches succeed!  #ENGvPAK".

He also added, "Authenticity and individuality makes our game intriguing if we were to manufacture techniques we wouldn’t see the likes of Lara, Smith, Malinga, Akram & Muralijust to mention a few!".

August 23, 2020

As for Alam, he lost his wicket to Dom Bess and got out for 21 as Pakistan are trailing by 482 runs on Day 3 at the Rose Bowl, Southampton.