Teen Qadir next cricketing hope - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Australia has been looking for the next Shane Warne since he retired from international cricket nearly six years ago.
A dearth of spinners has led the South Australian Cricket Association to search overseas and it has returned with another famous name.
Before Warne, there was Abdul Qadir.
The Pakistan leg spinner took more than 200 Test wickets and was popular with Australian crowds in the 1980s.
Now his son is following in his footsteps and the similarities are striking, says Tim Neilsen from the Redbacks coaching team.
"His dad was very loose-limbed and flicked the ball around a lot and jumped into the crease and Usman is very similar," he said.
"He's got lots of tricks. He bowls wrong 'uns and flippers and backspinners and legspinners."
Usman Qadir has been brought to Adelaide by South Australian cricket coach Darren Berry.
"Darren Berry talked with my father and my family and my father decided that you are going to Australia to get some experience," Usman said.
After three games for the Adelaide Cricket Club, the 19-year-old is the leading wicket-taker in the local A-grade competition, with 15 dismissals.
If he keeps it up, a Redbacks debut could be on the cards.
"Maybe if I'm performing well over here, giving the good performance over here, maybe they'll be giving me a chance," the teenager said.
In the short-term, his first-class prospects will be limited by Johan Botha, with the South African spinner filling South Australia's foreign player quota.
But Neilsen says the Redbacks are taking a longer view.
"If he decides in time that Australia is where he wants to play cricket, he'll need to spend I think it's four years in far as qualification as far as to become an Australian resident, like what Pietersen and Strauss and these guys have done playing for England, South African-based and moved to England, so he would need to fulfil those criteria to be available to play for South Australia and anything else," he said.
Whether that might one day include an Australian team remains to be seen, but Qadir is unsure at this stage about switching allegiances.
"Maybe I'm staying here, not sure," he said.
Before he is ready for international cricket, he might first need to negotiate an international tug-of-war.
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