Hasan Ali excited to learn from Anderson

MANCHESTER: Pakistan’s pacer Hasan Ali is set to pick England’s veteran James Anderson’s brains during his stint with Lancashire in county cricket.

Speaking at the club's press day, Hassan said he was "very excited" to share the dressing room with Anderson.

"Honestly, it's too cold for me," he said, laughing. "But yeah, I have to adjust. I would like to thank the Lancashire management for the opportunity. I'm very excited and looking forward to sharing the dressing room with their players; obviously we have Jimmy bhai, Jimmy Anderson, so I'm very happy and very excited."

Hasan added that he'd never interacted with Anderson before but would now be picking his brains whenever he could.

"We know he's a great bowler. He swings the ball both ways. I'm going to learn how he swings the ball both ways, especially the cross-seam ball. I'm going to learn it."

"I played with Saqib bhai for Peshawar Zalmi. He's a good guy, an exciting player. He just got his Test debut and I'm happy for him. [In the 2021 PSL] he was the best bowler when he left the team. He couldn't come back [for the second half of the season in the UAE], but he's a good player.

"I've been coming here [for] six years. My first tour here was in 2016 - I made my T20 [international] debut in this ground and I know about English cricket. I've played a couple of games here, in the World Cup and T20s. The ball does reverse here and I like to reverse the ball," said Hassan.

With Pakistan players still effectively blacklisted at the IPL and many of the world's leading cricketers taking part in that tournament, Hasan and his international team-mates have been in high demand for counties recruiting overseas players for the early stages of the Championship season.