Amir ready for 'real' comeback to cricket

Fast bowler Mohammad Amir thinks he's lucky to wear the Pakistan green cap again.

The left-arm quick was aged just 18 when he bowled deliberate no-balls in a Lord's Test and then was hit with a five-year ban from all forms of cricket by the ICC.

During his spot-fixing suspension, Amir spent time in an English prison before being released for good behaviour.

The other two culprits - (then) captain Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif - are still waiting for their international cricket returns despite their five-year bans being lifted last year.

Amir has played one-day internationals and Twenty20s since his ban was lifted last September, but his Test return will be at the same Lord's ground where international cricket's doors were shut on him in 2010.

"To be honest, I never thought about my comeback and I feel seriously lucky to play Test cricket again," Amir told AP.

"You call it a coincidence or whatever but, to me, it is a blessing that I am starting right from where I stopped in 2010.

"I might have made my comeback months ago but Test cricket is what I was looking forward to and this is my real comeback."

In his brief 13 months at Test level, Amir grabbed 51 wickets in 14 matches against Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia and England.

The legendary Wasim Akram once said he couldn't have bowled much better than Amir when he was 18.

Amir realises he has missed crucial time.

"I had missed five best years of my life and, had I continued playing cricket, everyone knows where I would have been standing today.

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"I have not forgotten 2010 ... and I want to supersede my past with a better future. I still hold those moments in my memory but I want to get my name on the honour board at Lord's once again."

Recently Alastair Cook reportedly said he did not have a problem with playing against Amir in the coming Test series, but the England skipper wanted the ICC to be much stricter and slap life bans on fixing offenders.

Amir agreed.

"If anyone still hasn't learnt a lesson from our cases, then he will be foolish," Amir said.

"Corruption in cricket should not be allowed and anyone caught (in future) should be banned for life."

Amir is also wary of the crowd's response to his comeback in England.

"I always believe that, as professional, you have to be ready for any kind of situation."