Big Bash star Haris Rauf scored his big break in a cricket audition in Pakistan
Hat-trick hero Haris Rauf has become an overnight sensation in the Big Bash. His amazing journey began three years ago when he beat 25,000 other hopefuls in a bowl-off to secure his first cricket contract in Pakistan.
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Haris Rauf was a professional tape-ball cricketer from Rawalpindi when he drove five hours, for fun, to take part in an Australian Idol-style audition for the Lahore Qalandars in 2017.
One of seven children from a non-cricketing family, he’d never played first class cricket in Pakistan because of the “politics”, so was never part of any national pathway programs.
But, having seen the call-out for hopefuls on Facebook and Instagram from the Pakistan Super League franchise, Rauf, who missed the two-day Rawalpindi tryouts because he was “too busy”, hoofed it to Gujranwala for the last chance.
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Bowling with a “hard” cricket ball for the first time, Rauf rocked the speed gun and beat 25,000 hopefuls to make the Qalandars squad.
“When I’m at the trials in the nets, I went through round one, round two, round three, then in the sixth round they brought out the speed gun,” Rauf, who took the first ever hat-trick for the Melbourne Stars on Wednesday night, told the Herald Sun.
“From 25,000, there were eight fast bowlers remaining. I bowled three balls, and after the third ball, I was selected.”
All three balls were above 145km/h, with his third just short of 149km/h. That was enough for Qalandars coach Aaqib Javed, now Rauf’s personal mentor, to sign him up.
“He said ‘enough, you come’,” Rauf recalled, sitting 10,000km from home in the cafe at the South Yarra hotel he’s sharing with his new Melbourne Stars teammates.
“The Gujranwala trial was the last trial. I was going just for fun. Then I was selected.”
Javed just didn’t just like Rauf’s raw pace, the sort of sheer speed that has rattled unknowing Big Bash batsman in his four breathtaking appearances.
Rauf had accuracy, and could move the ball in the air too, which was some skill given the trial was the first time he bowled with a ball that wasn’t covered in tape.
“With the tape ball I could bowl a lot of outswing, and the same with the hard ball. That became my strength,” he said.
“They also liked the aggression.”
Rauf, who has 13 wickets in just four games with the Stars, is one of those overnight sensations that isn’t.
His development time with the Qalanders, and Australian connections, brought him to Sydney for two seasons of grade cricket and then this year to Hobart where he played three T20 games for Glenorchy.
That stint was organised by then Tassie cricket chief Nick Cummins, who had also worked for the Qalanaders and was sizing Rauf up as a replacement for England star Jofra Archer at the Hobart Hurricanes.
Then Cummins moved to Cricket Victoria to work for the Stars and Renegades and when the perfect storm of an injury to Dale Steyn and a lack of solid interest from the Canes combined, the green team pounced.
There was an ultimatum given to Hobart, a day to make up their mind, during which time Stars coach David Hussey and list manager Trent Woodhill contacted everyone they knew to find out if Rauf was the real deal.
“It all came back glowing that we’d hit the jackpot,” Hussey said.
Watching some YouTube videos on Cummins’ laptop also helped convince the pair, and Rauf was waiting for his plane to Melbourne when Hobart management reached out.
“In the practice games (for Hobart) I played well, but they said they were not sure,” Rauf said.
“Then I am sitting in the airport and they sent me a message, to come to the office, and I said ‘no, I’m going to the Melbourne Stars’.”
Rauf isn’t allowed to bowl to the Stars batters in the nets — he’s that fast.
There was even a warning after his first net session where he tried to make an impression and may have struck a few body blows.
But while they won’t face him in the nets, Rauf’s teammates have fired him up for games to bowl as fast as he can, giving him grief when he’s only bowling around 148km/h.
On Wednesday he passed the 150km/h mark, his target, not once, but three times, topping out at 151.3km/h.
“Now my next target is 155km/h. But that’s for next season,” he said.
STARS GETTING BETTER: MAXWELL
The Melbourne Stars have already asserted their dominance on the Big Bash but captain Glenn Maxwell says his team is only getting better.
A shoulder injury to batsman Nic Maddinson, sustained in Wednesday’s thumping win over the Sydney Thunder and the departure of Peter Handscomb and Adam Zampa for international duties have thrown a slight spanner in the works ahead of Friday’s clash with the winless Renegades.
But Maxwell said his team’s ability to adapt to all situations they have faced through seven games, six of which have resulted in victories, left him confident the green team could keep its foot down in the march to the BBL finals.
“It feels like we are getting better and better and guys are still being able to adapt to different situations of the game,’ Maxwell said.
“The way we are going, we are matching up really well at different stages. I feel like we have a batter for each set of conditions and opposition bowler.
“I’ll keep adjusting to that and hopefully we can put that foot down. You never plan on losing or losing momentum, it’s about making sure we can do everything we can every game, keep playing the same way and hopefully that keeps bringing success.”
Marcus Stoinis, the BBL’s leading run-scorer, will return to bowling this weekend have failed to roll his arm over so far as he battled a sore foot.
Either Seb Gotch or Ben Dunk will take the wicket keeping gloves in place of Handscomb, while Nepalese spinner Sandeep Lamicchance will step up to fill the void left by Zampa.
Tearaway fast bowler Haris Rauf will be rested at least twice before the finals begin too and Maxwell said he has a “fear factor” that will continue to help the Stars when they come up against championship rivals the Sydney Sixers for the first time on Sunday.
Originally published as Big Bash star Haris Rauf scored his big break in a cricket audition in Pakistan