f Yasir Shahs progress? He is a good bowler and he was always in our plans w

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Columbus Blue Jackets players and bosses dont believe lack of talent was to blame for last years disappointing -- and admittedly embarrassing -- season.Thus, there were no headline-making deals for the Blue Jackets in the offseason, which probably was due partly to their expensive existing contracts. But it also signals that this team has confidence in its young talent and expects success will come soon. How soon is anybodys guess.Columbus was considered a playoff contender in the pre-season last year but started 0-7, leading to the ouster of coach Todd Richards and the hiring of John Tortorella, who couldnt quite get the train back in the tracks. The Blue Jackets had to win four out of the last five games just to finish 34-40-8.Only three teams in the NHL were worse. The Blue Jackets missed the playoffs for the 13th time in the teams 15 seasons.Were embarrassed, no question about it, team president John Davidson said. We had expectations, we didnt meet them. We really got into a rut early in the season, for whatever reason. But this is a chance for all of us to get back on the horse and prove that this is a good group of players.Things to watch for from Columbus this season:BRIGHT SPOTS: Davidson believes the Blue Jackets have built a good core of talent, starting with a pair of 23-year-old forwards, Brandon Saad and Boone Jenner. Last year Saad scored 31 goals, and Jenner netted 30 -- the first time a pair of Blue Jackets players contributed 30 goals in a season. Saad signed a six-year, $36-million contract before last season, and Jenner inked an extension that locks him up through the 2017-18 season.Veteran forwards Nick Foligno, Brandon Dubinsky, Cam Atkinson and Scott Hartnell are proven scorers. Seth Jones and Ryan Murray, a former No. 2 overall draft pick under contract through next season, are an explosive defensive duo.I think thats a good challenge for us right now, to prove ourselves again, Jenner said. Were ready. I think were a hungry group.CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: The Blue Jackets need a much better year from team captain Foligno, one of the highest paid players. A 28-year-old left wing, Foligno had 12 goals and 37 points, a disappointing result after posting 31 goals and 73 points the previous season.I did a lot of self-reflecting, Foligno said just before training camp. I think I didnt play to my characteristics, my attributes, and I think you can probably say that about 95 percent of our team. I think last year was a huge reflecting point for all of us, to come in this year and know what its going to take. Because nobody wants to go through what we went through last year.WHATS UP WITH BOB?: The fortunes of the Blue Jackets will turn also on the play of goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who was hampered by a groin injury last year that limited him to 37 games and just 15 wins. Davidson said Bobrovsky, the teams franchise player, is healthy and is moving like a cat right now. He showed hes back by playing brilliantly for Russia in the World Cup of Hockey last month. Having him fully healthy will be a huge boost.YOUNG GUNS READY?: Dont be surprised to see some new, fresh faces on the ice for Columbus. A handful of players from the deep pool of talent that helped the AHL Lake Erie Monsters win the Calder Cup are believed to be ready to contribute in the NHL -- including forwards Sonny Milano, Josh Anderson and Oliver Bjorkstrand, and defenseman Zach Weresnki, as well as forward Pierre-Luc Dubois, the No. 3 overall pick in Junes draft.Im going to bring up the young guys, Davidson said. Theyre going to push. Whether theyre going to get there this season or out of camp, I dont know. Well watch. Theyre going to push, and thats a good thing.---Follow Mitch Stacy at http://twitter.com/mitchstacyFor some of his other recent stories: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/mitch-stacyMattia Perin Jersey . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Daniele Rugani Jersey . The Browns coaching search remains incomplete. http://www.juventusfcpro.com/Kids-Mario-Mandzukic-Jersey/ . Datsyuk will miss Tuesdays game against New Jersey and could be sidelined longer, while Cleary will likely miss at least the next three games. Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games. Gianluigi Buffon Juventus Jersey .com) - The Chicago Blackhawks aim for their third three-game winning streak of the season when they host the struggling Edmonton Oilers in Sundays battle at the United Center. Leonardo Spinazzola Juventus Jersey . Peter Holland and Brad Staubitz were sent to Toronto on Saturday as the Maple Leafs traded defenceman Jesse Blacker and draft picks to the Anaheim Ducks.Your Australia tour wasnt as successful as your overall Test career. What do you recall of the Test series from 1983? I had just one tour to Australia, and I can safely say it was a failure for me. There are many reasons for that.One of them was the sandy outfields in all the Australian grounds. I used to apply dry mud from the outfield to my fingers and use saliva to tighten my grip on the ball. But due to the sandy soil, I wasnt able to grip it. I didnt find that out until my last Test. I was actually never in control with the ball. It was really very frustrating, and my entire tour was a chaotic one.I took five wickets at the MCG, but theres a background involved. I was surprised, frustrated and worried about my bowling and was always thinking about it. One day, just to clear my mind, refresh my thoughts, I went to the dance floor in my hotel in Melbourne. I was standing next to a pillar, lost in my thoughts, when someone came up behind me and covered my eyes. I thought it was Immy [Imran Khan] - no other Pakistan player would dare to do that to me - but then I realised it was the great Dennis Lillee.Hes a charming man with beautiful thoughts. He said to me: Abdul, I can understand what you are feeling. A bowler like you when you are not performing, how it feels. You looked depressed to me, and why not, when a great bowler is not performing, he must be upset. I have gone through this as well. You are still a great bowler and we admire you.I was touched because a bowler like Lillee was praising me regardless of the fact that I was bowling badly all tour. This really lifted my spirits and I went on to take five wickets.You conceded 166 runs for those five wickets. Yes, the problem was still there. I wasnt really up to my own standard. It was like Yasir Shah or Danish Kaneria, not Qadir at his best. I remained dissatisfied despite the crowd standing on their feet and clapping for my fifer. I looked happy but I was hollow inside.Also, maybe I was missing bowling with Imran. We had such a great time bowling together. I had a good bunch of bowlers [in that series], but it didnt go well.Commentators like Bill Lawry, Ashley Mallett and Clarrie Grimmett were arguing that I should be bowling from over the wicket, but my problem was the grip. I didnt bother which side I was bowling from. The main worry was that I was wasting my deliveries, as I was not able to concentrate.Because Qadir was a bowler with killer instincts, I would have gone all out for the kill. But something was missing.I spoke to Nazar Junior [Mudassar Nazar] about the problem with the mud not staying on my fingers. I actually used to spin the ball with my last three fingers, but the ball wasnt gripping. Nazar told me that the outfield was made of sand. When I realised the problem, the series was over.In the ODI series, I used the soil and made it wet with saliva, and I made the headlines after that - Abdul takes revenge. I still have those newspaper clippings with me.So legspin in Australia is all about how you grip the ball? In my case it was.Why do you think you were so popular in Australia? Australians are naturally aggressive cricketers and they have always had a great regard for the art [of legspin]. They always came to me and told me that one thing they liked about me was that I was a spin bowler with the attitude of a fast bowler.See, in cricket legspin is the most difficult art because the mechanics involved in it arent easy to master. I am satisfied with my overall career - in an era of fast bowlers, I took more than 200 wickets as a spinner. Other spinners came, got hammered and faded away, but I hung around and did well in that era.You returned to Australia to play club cricket. What was your experience? Ohh yes, it was a learning curve for me.dddddddddddd Only by the end of that 83 tour had I realised how to bowl in those conditions, but I never returned to Australia for Pakistan again. I did return some eight years after the 83 tour to play club cricket in Melbourne for Carlton. Being older and much more experienced, I managed to take 72 wickets and won the Ryder Medal at a time when Shane Warne was also playing. I dont remember, but I think it was a record and it earned great praise.Richie Benaud always rated you highly. Did you ever get a chance to meet him? He came to Lahore once and we had a chat for two or three hours sitting in the Holiday Inn hotel. He asked a lot of questions, and we had a long discussion on how many types of deliveries a legspinner can bowl. We were surprised that I had more ways of delivering and spinning the ball, while he, despite being a legendary spinner, knew only a few, traditional ways of doing legspin bowling.I told him that, unlike other legspinners, I used my last three fingers, with the middle finger generating most power. I would use a combination of my last three fingers in such a way as to manage the workload of my fingers. I used to flick with my middle finger to make the ball turn, and would hide the ball from the batsman to prevent him from reading it early. The index and ring fingers were my triggers for the googly, and that was the main art.Benaud appreciated me and praised me, and I was humbled that I had won his praise. You cant bullshit with a guy like Richie. He was a legend and his knowledge of the game was immense. We both walked away with more respect for each other. I am glad that I was able to add something to his knowledge.Captaincy didnt sit well with you? I played in an era with Imran Khan and Javed Miandad, so I never even thought about the captaincy. But it did fall in my lap when Javed got injured. So I was lucky to have got it somehow, and the matches I lost as captain were close ones. I can also tell you that I was offered the captaincy in the presence of Javed Miandad, but I refused. I told Haseeb Ahsan [PCB secretary at the time] that I wouldnt accept the offer. I stood by that principle and never accepted the captaincy, except for that one series when Javed was injured. He was my captain at HBL and it wouldnt have been proper to promote me while bypassing him.What do you think of Yasir Shahs progress? He is a good bowler and he was always in our plans when I was chief selector in 2009. He was among 20 players I had told the PCB to keep an eye on and select as soon as possible. But, without a googly and a flipper, a legbreak bowler will struggle at some point, and I have seen his form fluctuating. I think he tries to bowl the googly but it goes too flat. For his flipper, he might not really be gripping the ball well.Has he ever come to you to talk about his bowling? No, never. And I am not surprised at all. Because he probably sees Shane Warne as his idol and he is more tempted to approach him [smiles]. There were so many bowlers who came to me, and that is the blessing of Allah. Shane, Kumble, Afridi, MacGill [all approached me] but it is up to them to give back the credit if they are willing to.Mushtaq [Ahmed] replaced me in the team in the early 90s and - you can ask him - he came to me and I told him why I had struggled in Australia and what he needed to do to get wickets there. He was really good, bowling long spells and had good control over his line and length. He needed to bring variation in his bowling, but I liked his spirit and ambition. He was very positive about the game. ' ' '