West Indies v Australia: Fawad Ahmed hopes to be judged on season not one tour match

TEST hopeful Fawad Ahmed says it’s hard to make a breakthrough in a tour match when the other team is playing out a dull draw.

Fawad Ahmed Portrait Session

UPDATE: TEST hopeful Fawad Ahmed says it’s hard to make a breakthrough in a tour match when the other team is playing out a dull draw.

And the Pakistan-born legspinner reckons failing to take a wicket in the second innings of last week’s three-day game in Antigua shouldn’t count against him.

The 33-year-old former asylum seeker is pushing for a possible Test debut on Wednesday in the first Test against West Indies on the spin-friendly Dominica pitch.

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However his figures of 2-113 and 0-31 against a West Indies Cricket Board President’s XI on face value don’t appear too friendly to his selection prospects.

Ahmed says he bowled well and he won’t be judged on a single performance anyway.

“I’ve come off a really good Sheffield Shield season,” Ahmed told reporters on Saturday in Dominica.

“They’re not just going to look at six, seven eight overs that went not as well as normally.

“They know what my ability and skills are. I think it will be fine.”

Ahmed poses for a portrait in Roseau, Dominica. Photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images.

Ahmed says he has heard good things about Dominica, where Australia’s offspinner Nathan Lyon took seven wickets in the 2012 Test.

Ahmed rated his first-innings performance of 2-113 off 28 overs in Antigua as a mixed bag.

“The first seven or eight overs it looked like I was going to take a wicket with every single ball,” Ahmed said.

“After the rain break, I’m not sure what happened.

“When I came back, I’ve never bowled that many short balls. I’m happy it was in the practice game. Second innings (0-31 off 13 overs) I bowled really well

“All the varieties came out really nicely.”

Ahmed said the home side’s batsmen were closing up shop on day three in Antigua.

“It was a draw already and they were just blocking everything,” he said.

“But in the Test match that’s not going to happen.”

Asked if he was affected by nerves in Antigua, Ahmed said: “It happens to everyone when it comes to the time when they ask you to perform well or do your best in only one game and prove yourself.”

Ahmed, who fled Pakistan in 2010 seeking asylum in Australia, says Test cricket was far from his mind then.

He aid when he came to Australia he struggled with English and had a tough time.

“I didn’t even know how to travel on the tram,” he said.

Ahmed says he has the opportunity to inspire others who have come through adversity.

“People may admire you in a different way but for me I have to perform well on the field as well to justify my selection,” he said.

Ahmed says his Muslim prayer times are flexible and can be taken during lunch and tea breaks.

“They (teammates) are familiar with me now,” he said.

“Everyone knows about my prayer times, my culture and everything. Everyone knows Ramadan is coming next month.”