March 28, 2003	Friday	Muharram 24, 1424

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COLOMBO, March 27: Sri Lanka were awaiting re-confirmation of the troubled Sharjah Cup tournament due to be held in the United Arab Emirates, cricket officials here said on Thursday.

Sri Lanka were hoping that the tournament could go ahead and had informally received confirmation from the other participating nations that the series was on, a Cricket Board source here said.

“We have tentatively been told that the others in the series are taking part,” the source said. “But we are awaiting a firm confirmation from the organisers.”

The Sharjah Cup involving Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa was to take place in Sharjah from April 1 to 8. However, South Africa refused to travel to the UAE because of the Iraq war.

Kenya have been confirmed as a last-minute replacement for South Africa for next week’s Sharjah cricket tournament.

Zimbabwe are also expected to take part in what would become a quadrangular affair, also involving Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Kenya are an official one-day international nation although they do not have Test status.

The East Africans beat both Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka on the way to a surprise place in the World Cup semifinals.

Organisers the Cricketers’ Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) were forced to make the switch after South Africa withdrew because of safety fears over the war in Iraq.

But after holding favourable talks with Zimbabwe and Kenya about taking South Africa’s place, CBFS president Qasim Noorani said there was no need for a location switch.

“Zimbabwe are awaiting sports ministry clearance but they are quite hopeful,” Noorani said. “If we get that today (Thursday) or even tomorrow then it will be a quadrangular.”—Agencies

Our Lahore Correspondent adds: Saleem Elahi has been dropped from the 16-member Pakistan cricket team which was announced for Sharjah Cup on the pretext that the rules of competition does not allow a 16th player.

According to a PCB spokesman, the decision was taken after the organisers of the tournament did not allow the 16th player according to the rules.

“We are sad for Saleem Elahi because we sincerely wanted to retain him in the team as we thought we were improving and would earn more under the wings of someone like Javed Miandad. But despite our several requests to the organisers of the tournament, the 16th player was not allowed because of inflexible tournament rules,” a spokesman of the selection committee said.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan cricket team will now leave for Sharjah on April 1 and the players whose teams reach the March 31 final of the NBP Patron’s Cup One-day cricket tournament will be allowed to represent their respective departments.