Mohammad Aamer shows no sign of slowing drive to be new Wasim Akram

Mohammad Yousuf did not often get time to play domestic cricket, but the former Test batsman is unlikely to forget the day he came up against a slip of a teenager bowling at searing pace. Two nasty bouncers said hello and then a clever yorker waved him goodbye, taking the stumps with it. Few had heard of Mohammad Aamer back in 2008, but after 11 wickets in two Tests against Australia earlier this month no one in the England team will be unaware of his threat when the first Test starts at Trent Bridge tomorrow.

Aamer was born just over a fortnight after Pakistan cricket's finest hour, when Imran Khan's Cornered Tigers saw off England in the 1992 World Cup final, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Later that summer, Pakistan won a Test series in England. They have not repeated that achievement since 1996, and despite sharing the spoils against Australia, they languish near the bottom of the International Cricket Council's rankings.

Pakistan cricket's brightest young prospect, lives in Lahore, but he has not forgotten his roots. Earlier this year he became one of the faces of Pepsi in Pakistan, along with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, the tennis player, and Call, the band. The ad explores the theme of emerging from tough conditions and striving hard, step by step, to be successful.

Aamer grew up in the village of Changa Bangyaal in Punjab's Gujar Khan district. Before Aamer, the best-known inhabitant was probably Daku [Dacoit] Sajawal, a local Robin Hood. After his contribution to Pakistan's World Twenty20 win in England last summer, people flocked to the village from neighbouring hamlets, and his relatives provided roti and tea to everyone.

His story starts with trying to imitate Wasim Akram in games of tape-ball cricket in Choha Khalsa, a village half an hour from Gujar Khan, but it was only once he moved to Rawalpindi and Asif Bajwa's academy that his potential became apparent. The youngest of seven (six brothers and a sister), Aamer had to overcome some resistance to chase his dream. It helped, however, that he was fond of his books.

"I was very young when I left home for Rawalpindi," he said. "I was good in my studies so my mother would let me play cricket, unlike my brothers who got scolded because their studies suffered. But she didn't want to let me go to Pindi."

Mudassar Nazar, the former Pakistani opener, spotted Aamer playing in Rawalpindi aged just 14 and suggested he be sent to the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. Akram then saw him at a pace bowling camp there in 2007 and went on TV to say the selectors should take a punt on the kid who had yet to turn 16.

His progress was slowed by stress fractures while on an Under-19s tour of England and concerns remain about his ability to keep bowling fast. David Dwyer, Pakistan's then fitness trainer, told Pakpassion, a popular fans' website: "I want him to bulk up quick and I am working with him to try and get him to eat more. However it's not that easy, as some of the younger players don't want to eat much."

According to Dwyer, unfamiliar menus overseas don't help. "It's an issue, especially for the younger players. Aamer is one of a few players who tend to suffer from an upset stomach whilst on tour and that can hamper his food intake."

That aside, few things have come between the 18-year-old and the road to the top. He caught the eye for the Rawalpindi Rams in domestic Twenty20 competition and then took more than 50 wickets in the first-class season in 2008. At the World Twenty20 last year, his dismissal of Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan, the tournament's most devastating batsman, was the final's pivotal moment.

While he aspires to be the "second Rawalpindi Express", there are no doubts in Aamer's mind over the identity of the man he idolises. Mudassar and Aaqib Javed have been big influences, but for a left-handed kid from Pakistan bowling fast there could only ever be one hero.

"It's always been Wasim [Akram]," he said in a TV interview earlier this year. "Not just because I'm a leftie... I'm very impressed by his personality. I want to talk like him and walk like him. You could say that I'm impressed by him A to Z."

If anything, Aamer is a far more complete bowler than Akram was at the same age. In addition to the stock delivery that leaves the right-hander, he has learnt to bring the ball back in. He bowls a mean bouncer, and the yorker can surprise the most accomplished batsmen.

It will undoubtedly help Aamer that the national side is now led by Salman Butt, a team-mate in Pakistan's domestic cricket. "He's like a brother to me," he said. "When I came to National Bank to play my first season of first-class cricket, he told me not to take any pressure, not to get overawed by the situation. He told me to just think of it as an easy club game. Then, even playing for Pakistan wouldn't seem overwhelming."

For his part, Butt is quick to return the compliments. Pakistan's latest captain described Aamer and new-ball partner Mohammed Asif, who also took 11 wickets against Australia, as the world's best.

"Without any doubt I can say that Aamer and Asif are the best pair in the world at the moment," says Butt. "Umar Gul with the old ball is the most dangerous because he bowls the best reverse swing that I've played in recent times. I am a lucky person to have such an armoury and they are Pakistan's trump card in successes in the recent past and for a long time in the future."

There have been a few brickbats along the way, including rumours of a tiff with Gul while on the tour of New Zealand. When he dropped Ricky Ponting on nought in Hobart (he went on to make 200), there were snide remarks in the Urdu press of how his locks (they used the word "zulfain", usually reserved for women) got in his eyes and prevented him from seeing the ball properly.

Given the maturity with which he bowls, it's no surprise that a nation has so much faith in his potential to restore it to former glory. "He grew up playing in these very fields," said his brother-in-law from his home village after the series-levelling win against Australia. "He hasn't reached the team through a parchi [lottery] system, the kid has talent. I would like to request the former cricketers to please not raise their voices or hoot against these kids. The poor things play under pressure."

If Aamer feels much pressure, he hides it well. Andrew Strauss and England's top order will have to be on guard over the next month as Pakistan cricket's new pace-ace tests both technique and resolve in tandem with the canny Asif. "Test cricket is the real deal," Aamer says. "I enjoy Twenty20 matches and one-dayers, but Test cricket is the No1 priority for me."

It is only when he fronts up to the microphone, chewing gum and brushing the fashionably streaked hair from his face, that it is apparent how young he is. At a team function in Wellington on that New Zealand tour, he was asked the secret of his success. "Everyone says it's their girlfriend, but I don't have one," he said with a smile. "It's God's blessing, my parents' prayers and those of the entire nation." As long as he steers clear of the steak and kidney pies, it could be England who are left feeling queasy this summer.