ST JOHN’S (Antigua), May 13: Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq is confident his team will defeat the West Indies in the Test and one-day series even without frontline paceman Shoaib Akhtar. “This time we have a chance to win the series because the boys are looking in pretty good shape,” Inzamam said on Friday after Pakistan team arrived here for a warm-up match on Sunday.

Pakistan seek their first Test series victory in the Caribbean. In five previous tours, Pakistan’s best result was 1-1 in 1987-88.

Inzamam also shrugged off the absence of all-rounder Shoaib Malik from the first Test in Barbados starting on May 26.

The Pakistan Cricket Board banned Malik from the match for intentionally throwing away a domestic match.

Inzamam, who has 21 centuries in 100 Tests, was also suspended for the first Test by the International Cricket Council for misconduct in the one-day series win over arch-rival India in April.

“If everyone is performing well and Shoaib Malik is not playing it doesn’t matter,” Inzamam said. “The young bowlers performed well on the Indian tour.”

The new ball will be shared between fast bowler Shabbir Ahmed, Rana Navedul Hasan, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Nazir and Rao Iftikhar, while leg-spinner Danish Kaneria and off-spinner Arshad Khan are the two specialist slow bowlers.

The first ODI is next Wednesday in St Vincent.

The tourists arrived without top all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, who remained in Pakistan, when the team departed on Wednesday morning from Karachi, because of his aunt’s illness. He is due on Saturday.

However, Inzamam, the team’s top batsman, said after drawing Test series 1-1 with India last month and winning limited over series 3-2, they were confident of more success here.

West Indies lost their home Test series against South Africa 2-0 and are trailing 3-0 in five-match limited overs series.

“In India all the boys performed well. It is a team game. I think here in West Indies if everyone will perform well (we will win). Especially we are looking toward Danish Kaneria who bowled well in India. I don’t think West Indies will have an easy time in playing him,” the skipper remarked.

“I think conditions are similar to the sub-continent because the weather is the same and I don’t think it will be difficult to adjust.”

“Our team has been playing for last six to seven months continuously so I think one one-day game series is more than enough.”

In the one-day warm-up match, Antiguan side will be led by recently retired West Indies wicket-keeper/batsman Ridley Jacobs, who has been given mantle by local cricket authorities as a farewell gesture.

Jacobs will be joined by his Leeward Islands team-mates, Sylvester Joseph, who played two Tests for West Indies on their tour of England last year, all-rounder Wilden Cornwall, seamers Kerry Jeremy, and Carl Simon, who returned home Thursday from England where he was playing with Preston in Sussex League.

Antigua & Barbuda Cricket Association has invited discarded Windies off-spinning all-rounder Omari Banks to play in the game, replacing batsman Runako Morton who has been selected for West Indies squad in the one-day series against South Africa.—Agencies