One of the greatest the game has ever seen and a master at making the ball talk, Wasim Akram is next in our Cult Heroes series.
The former Pakistan and Lancashire skipper could move the ball at pace both in the air and off the deck like very few that have gone before or since. No wonder many credit him with being the best left arm bowler of all time.
In tandem with Waqar Younis, who excelled in all the same fields, he formed one of the most devastating attacks that cricket has ever seen for Pakistan.
Dynamic & devastating - is Wasim Akram one of the best bowlers of all time? What are your favourite memories of him? pic.twitter.com/khl4JjwRem
— County Championship (@CountyChamp) July 21, 2016
Akram played 104 Test matches and claimed 414 scalps, and his 502 wickets from 356 ODIs leave him second on the all-time list behind Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan. In total, he took an eyewatering 916 international wickets.
Both Viv Richards and Brian Lara are on record as saying Akram was the best bowler they have faced in their long and illustrious careers. A host of quality players can claim to have been bamboozled by his skills with the ball.
Though he didn't quite reach the potential his batting showed, the Lahore-born star still racked up nearly 3,000 runs in his Test career, including a top score of 257 not out against Zimbabwe. He made 3,717 runs in ODIs with a strike rate of 88.3.
The 50-year-old won the World Cup with Pakistan in 1992 and was crowned Man of the Match for his performance, smashing 33 off 18 balls as his side set England 250 to win. He then dismissed Ian Botham early on before removing Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis in successive deliveries.
Akram spent a decade with Lancashire, during a golden era for the Red Rose county. During his time there they won the NatWest Trophy three times, the B&H Cup three times and the Axa Sunday League once in 1998, when Akram was skipper.