Shoaib's 5 years younger than Asif....

The cricinfo bulletin of the 2nd ODI between Pakistan and England (I could follow a part of the English innings and that was it) had a link of player pages. Cricinfo has this nice feature of listing the significant personalities discussed in a report and linking these names to respective personality pages. I casually pressed the link to my blue-eyed boy 'Mohammad Asif' and was horrified to learn that he was a 1971-born! Goodness gracious - age is the last similarity I have in mind when I keep saying that Asif reminds us of Glenn Mcgrath.

But then the reality strikes: our grandpa Asif is yet to play an international match. It was after all a minor linking error that allowed an Asif namesake his unexpected turn under the spotlight. And no wonder it happened - I counted 12 Mohammad Asif's in all on the Pakistan players' list. All was well thereafter and I slipped into my own Asif's player page.

Update: I cannot resist myself from sharing with you a potentially fatal thought that (fortunately) never occured to me during the precise period of shock described above. I may not have survived the damage if an image of former Pakistan fast bowler Aqib Javed had surfaced in my mindscape while I was still trying to digest the extreme advanced age of Asif.

Allegedly born in 1972 (and having started the rather easy job of fast bowling at first class level in the 1984-85 season aged 12 - right, t-w-e-l-v-e), Aqib happens to be younger than the 1971-born Asif.

Was Aqib Javed born aged five? I can't say - and that's a pity as that could have explained his rather 'early' start and likewise departure (he was spent by the time he was '26'). But he sure could have knocked me off for a round hundred; I take this opportunity to announce that the previous post was the 100th one on Pavilion View. Cake's on the way...and with it we will celebrate this new lease of life for your blogger friend. you'll agree that the landmark's far too innocuous when weighed against a narrow escape.

[The Aqib Javed info was pointed out in an earlier blog comment at a different forum as an 'intergalactic incredulity' by Jay, a cricinfo reader friend and supporter of Pakistan cricket team.]