David Llyod is a man very few in the cricket world tend to ignore.

Whether is it for his pinpoint analysis or hilarious caricatures of cricket's superstars, the former Lancashire and England batsman almost always makes for a spectacle.

Llyod, who only played nine Tests and eight ODIs in an unfulfilled career for England, took up commentary after stints as umpire, coach and journalist.

The 68-year-old recently caught up with Pakpassion in a candid discussion about Pakistan's stars, its controversies and what the team means to world cricket.

Wasim Akram: ‘The King’

DL: Well I was coach at Lancashire when he was here. How do you coach Wasim? You don't! You make him comfortable.

I marveled at the way he went about his business. — AFP

His nickname at Lancashire was King. In the dressing room everyone knew him as King and he just answered to King, which was fabulous for him. Lancashire have had some great overseas players, Clive Lloyd, Farokh Engineer and Wasim Akram and all three of them still have houses in the area and so they were adopted Lancastrians.

The players really took to Akram and he got it, he knew what playing for Lancashire was all about.

He was a fabulous cricketer and if you are picking a world eleven, you start with Wasim Akram who's going to open the bowling. He's a wonderful lad, he's had tragedy in his life with the death of his wife and he's found happiness again. He's just a wonderful and fantastic bloke to have met.

I marveled at the way he went about his business.

Imran Khan: Man about town

He was a gifted player, a wonderful player to play against and I'm talking about a golden era of cricket when you had Andy Roberts, Clive Lloyd, Barry Richards and some other great players. In that time there were some great players for you to play against and you wanted to play against the greats.

He was ‘The Leader’. — Photo courtesy The Hindu Archives

Imran was a debonair cricketer, he was man about town and you'd see him in the middle pages of the newspapers, but he was a wonderful cricketer.

He was one of the great all-rounders. You could put Richard Hadlee, Mike Proctor, Malcolm Marshall and Ian Botham in this group. These were great all-rounders and you could tell they were all competing with each other, but Imran was as good as any of them.

I know Wasim Akram really well and I know that all those players revered Imran Khan and they looked up to him. He was the figurehead of the team, captain of the team and in two words he was ‘The Leader’

Shahid Afridi: ‘Box office’

He wants to hit it from Karachi to Lahore. He thinks he has the strength to do it and he's the only man who can do it. He is box-office. He was devastating in his pomp and his glory days.

He is box-office. — AFP

Don't disregard his bowling which is very difficult. Those leg-spinners that don't turn which are similar to Anil Kumble, accurate, bowled at a good pace and without much flight with a nice little drifter that comes in at you, but his forte and his number one priority is hitting it hard.

So when you are playing against him, he's the one that you want out in five overs. If he's in after fifteen overs, we've got a problem.

Shoaib Akhtar: ‘Fast’

He had genuine, natural pace. — AFP

I saw him play for Worcester and he marked his run-up out and that's a long run-up. I don't go that far for my holidays.

He had the God-given talent to bowl fast and I mean fast. There's only been ten fast bowlers since the war.

There's been plenty of fast-medium or medium-fast bowlers who were fast for a little time but genuine pace gets people on the edge of their seats and this lad had it.

He had genuine, natural pace.

Misbah-ul-Haq: ‘Father figure’

He's a calming influence. — AFP

He's been a stabilising influence. He's a good player who would be a father figure to players.

He's astute, he knows Pakistan and he knows there's volatility and there will be something happening around the corner that might be untoward and he's a calming influence.

When he speaks, he speaks quietly and sensibly and you can tell that he can calm the volatile lads in the team down.

Amir, Asif, Butt: ‘Not for me’

I'm old-fashioned, getting on in years. I wouldn't have them playing at all, it's as simple as that.

Amir was not a kid. — AP

We had the same in English football in the early 1960s with three first division footballers. They never played again.

They were at the height of their profession and I know that from what I say will create a reaction and people will say he [Amir] was a young kid. No, not for me!

Pakistan cricket: ‘Like Rock and Roll’

I marvel at the amount of players they bring through.

Pakistan cricket is Rock and Roll. — AP

You can understand why as it's the major sport and cricket is everybody's life; the young boy's life and they play it out on spare land and they want to be Wasim Akram or Javed Miandad or Inzamam or Akmal and they aspire to be cricketers and there is that amount of cricket played in the country that the right selectors will find players and they always do.

I marvel at these chaps who come in and look right at home as Test match players and they will have been playing club cricket or league cricket prior to that, but boy can they play.

The unpredictability of it all makes it very romantic and there's never a dull moment.

You would never get a Pakistan team that was formulated. If you look at England, there's an accusation that it's planned and formulated, but not Pakistan as with them it's off the cuff. Pakistan cricket is Rock and Roll.