I re-watched Noman Ali's 383 balls against South Africa – here’s what makes him so good

Noman Ali turned 39, five days before he took the field in the first Test against South Africa last week. He made his Test debut in 2021, aged 34. He’s been on the first-class scene since 2007. His career is into its own adulthood. Noman has played a first-class match in every calendar year from 2009 to 2025.

He bowls left-arm orthodox, perhaps one of the least aesthetic bowling types. You don’t get the majesty of a leggie and there is no adrenaline rush like you get when watching a fast bowler. Off-spin might be the only style that compares, on the ‘boring’ scale. Finger-spinners have not always thrived in Pakistan either; wrist-spinners are generally more effective.

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And despite all this, Noman boasts the most outrageous of records at Test level since the start of last year – 46 wickets in five Tests at 14.56, with three ten-wicket hauls.

It’s easy to be dismissive about this record.

After all, Pakistan pivoted hard into making pitches that spun from day one, after England racked up 823 in Multan last year; which should suit Noman down to a T.

But since the start of 2024, in Tests that Noman has played, he’s still outperformed the other spinners. He averages almost six runs per wicket fewer than his bowling partner, Sajid Khan. Senuran Muthusamy took 11 wickets in one Test, and still has a bowling average higher than Noman. Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir averaged close to 35.

Only Jomel Warrican compared, with his 19 wickets in two games, at an average of 9.00. Even in those two Tests, Noman took 16 wickets at 12.62.

But the South Africa Test was different. The Lahore wicket did assist spin, but Pakistan played two quicks to South Africa’s one, on a pitch that writer Danyal Rasool dubbed a “spinroad”. It was flat enough in the first innings for Pakistan to score 378, and reverse swing came into play particularly for Shaheen Shah Afridi.

All this is to say it was a slightly different wicket – not quite the raging minefield from ball one – to what Pakistan have been using since their switch in strategy.

There’s a Noman-related number which bears this out as well.

He sent down 63 overs in this Test, the most in his international career. In domestic cricket, he once bowled 64 overs in a game, but add in his five no-balls from this Test and his total of 383 deliveries is only one shy of that.

At the age of 39, Noman trotted in, bowled as much as he ever has before, and returned 10-191 – the last bit is crucial because very often, long spells can also mean barren ones.

By far the most compelling aspect of his bowling was the ability to vary his pace.

Up and down the gears: The Noman Ali way

Out of Noman’s 383 deliveries, speeds were available for 311. It is tempting to look first at his range of speeds on wicket-taking deliveries. But those don’t tell you much; the slowest was 73.4 kmph and the quickest 89.1. Virtually everything in between was covered as well.

Much of spin bowling is about deception – it is vital to plant seeds of doubt in batters’ heads. A much-talked about approach to batting is about putting the previous events away, and focusing on the one coming next. But this is easier said than done; after all, “assessing the conditions” depends on taking in and processing events that have taken place in the innings so far.

From the available data, there were three peaks in Noman’s bowling speeds – the bumps on the graph below – at roughly 78, 82 and 86 kmph. The majority of deliveries were between 84 and 86 kmph.

Pace variation, without giving away obvious hints to the batters, is itself a skill.

Just ask Ravindra Jadeja, himself a masterful bowler but with largely one gear speed-wise – his natural one, around 90 kmph. At Headingley earlier this year, it was a source of frustration for India, with keeper Rishabh Pant quipping at one point that, “He never bowls slow!”

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In Lahore, Noman was not only able to alter his pace, but also disguise it superbly with the added dimension of the ball’s trajectory.

Observe the following clip, where he bowls on the left to Ryan Rickelton and on the right, to Tony de Zorzi. Both land on a similar length. One delivery is nearly 10 kmph slower, but Noman gives that one less air, pushing it through slightly flatter.

It’s the kind of deception that can play around with a batter’s in-built cues. Generally, slower deliveries tend to be tossed up more, in order for spinners to bring other factors like drift and dip into play.

But by occasionally playing around with this preconceived notion, Noman can keep batters guessing for longer, about how much pace is on the ball, and how long it hangs in the air before reaching them.

Also read: First since Warne: South Africa spinner breaks all-time record with first-innings six-for in Pakistan

All this so far, is about Noman. Where the help from the wicket comes in, is that with such dry surfaces, he is less handicapped by the more general tendency for quick deliveries to grip less, and therefore spin less, than slightly slower ones. Turn is in play at all speeds.

It helps that Noman himself has an action quite geared towards generating big turn. His run up and approach to the crease is at an angle, and as he gets into the delivery stride, he gets almost completely side-on to the batter.

As he gets through the crease, Noman’s torso twists around to eventually roughly face fine leg for a right-hander. That quick and almost complete rotation of the hip in the seconds between his jump and the delivery, help him impart a high number of revolutions to the ball, irrespective of the speed at which he bowls.

Noman Ali vs Wiaan Mulder: The stand-out duel

The most entertaining match-up of the Test was probably Noman vs Dewald Brevis in the fourth innings, where the batter flayed 36 runs off 28 balls before being undone by a near-unplayable delivery.

But upon re-watch, the most instructive was perhaps Noman vs Wiaan Mulder on day two. That was where the combination of these two – varying pace and the ability to consistently get good revs on the ball – came to the fore.

Mulder came to the wicket just after Noman had Aiden Markram caught behind. He started his innings with an arguably better approach than Markram, looking to defend with the bat face down, rather than have it face the bowler – to dead-bat rather than push or punch. That did save him on one occasion, where Noman drew the edge but Mulder’s soft hands meant it fell short of slip.

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The trade-off Mulder made though, was essentially accepting that when he defended, there would be next to no chance of scoring; no chance of extending slightly to work the ball into a gap.

Noman began with a fairly standard line on middle and leg, attempting to keep all modes of dismissal in play. Off Mulder’s fourth ball, he floated one slightly slower and wider of off stump, and Mulder was quick to take a big stride forward and knock it into the off side for one.

Anything that angled in towards pitching on a stump line was met by Mulder’s single-mindedness to protect his wicket, with no thought for scoring.

But he attempted to score off virtually every delivery that began on or outside off stump, since those would almost always turn away and pose no danger to his stumps. One of them stopped on him as he tried to cut. Mulder drove another overpitched delivery for four.

Through four of Noman’s overs, this pattern played out, as the bowler gradually honed in more on a straighter line to dry up the runs. He erred once down the leg side, which Mulder swept for four, but either side of that were streaks of six and five dot balls.

There’s no doubt that this would be a test of patience for Mulder, with Noman applying the squeeze. But for the majority of their matchup, Noman did not vary his pace much; remaining roughly in the 82-86 kph range.

It was in the 25th over of the innings, Noman’s 11th, that he started to experiment. He held the middle-and-leg line, and his fullish length, but slowed the pace up, getting it below 80 kmph.

Perhaps it was his way of seeing whether Mulder might open up more against that trajectory if the pace dropped. As it happened, he did not. After four deliveries measuring under 82 kmph, on that tight line, Noman bought his lottery ticket.

He looped one up outside off at 79.8. Mulder, having defended so resolutely all this while, was likely less focused than he should have been, on getting his foot to the pitch of the ball. When dead-batting, one can afford to be a little off.

But with this ball in his run-scoring zone, his footwork had to be more precise than it was for an attacking shot. He didn’t stride out to the pitch of the ball, instead ending up going at it with his hands.

He may have gotten away with it earlier on, but with Noman dropping his speeds throughout this over, Mulder was through the shot early and a thin outside edge was snapped up by the keeper.

This battle with Mulder exemplified Noman’s ability to “work out” a batter, something that is less of a talent and more a trait that comes with experience. He bowled 14,957 deliveries in first-class cricket before his Test debut, and that count was 23,679 before the Lahore Test. Add to that all the net sessions before, during and after matches.

It’s not that he didn’t have his own struggles. Noman was far less effective in this Test against South Africa’s lefties, chiefly Ryan Rickelton and Tony de Zorzi, when he couldn’t challenge both edges as effectively. But he more than made up for it with how lethal he was to right-handers.

Noman Ali - Lahore Test vs South Africa

Rather than display supreme talent, Noman’s 10-wicket haul probably highlighted the biggest benefit of first-class cricket, irrespective of a player’s specialty. His 18 years on the circuit gave him a volume and intensity of practice that is incredibly difficult to match anywhere else. It also allowed him to learn about his own game, inside out, and not just learn specific plans, but also how to formulate, think through, and adapt them to different situations.

And now, he’s reaping the rewards.

Image/footage credit: YouTube / Sports TV

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