Shoaib Akhtar, the Pakistani fast bowler, who is set to become the first man to deliver a ball at more than 100 mph, has had quite a turn around in his career. The speed king arrived in Strabane barely a year ago to take up a £200 per week professional stint with the local club and now may command a six-figure sum from one of the top English county sides.

Already tipped to be one of the most exciting players in the World Cup which began this week, Shoaib arrived in Strabane for the 1998 season and cost only £7,500 for a stint from April through to September.

Nicknamed Jasper by his team-mates, the bowler recently clocked up a 97 mph delivery, significantly faster than the likes of Darren Gough and Allan Donald. He lived with the son of the club's chairman Terence Patten and popped around to the Patten household for most of his meals, easily assimilating into the Irish way of life.

Shoaib will undoubtedly catch the eye during the World Cup because of his penchant for throwing in regular bouncers from a run up that starts somewhere out by the sight screens. After that it's a holiday - Strabane naturally.