|
|
|
| May 19, 2006 | Friday | Rabi-us-Sani 20, 1427 |
Shoaib Akhtar, Sami invited for camp
LAHORE, May 18: Pakistan selectors have invited injury-prone Shaoib Akhtar and out-of-form Mohammad Sami, along with two wicket-keepers, for the conditioning camp starting from May 25.
The camp is being held to select the Pakistan team for the forthcoming tour of England scheduled for July to September.
Shoaib and Sami were included in the list of 21 probables which was announced on Thursday. Shoaib did not play any match after the home Test series against India in Feb-March this year because of his knee operations.
He also missed the tour of Sri Lanka and back-to-back matches against India in Abu Dhabi on April 18 and 19.
Sami, who made a comeback for the last two ODIs against India after a short bad patch, was again axed by selectors for Sri Lankan's tour and back-to-back matches in Abu Dhabi.
"Shoaib is improving and he will have 12 days to prove his fitness in the conditioning camp and a decision about his inclusion in the 16-member team will be taken on the medical reports", chief selector Wasim Bari told Dawn.
Besides regular wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, the selectors elevated 'A' team's Zulqarnain Haider by including him in the list of probables. "Zulqarnain is included in the list as second option only if captain Inzamam needed another wicketkeeper", Bari said.
Zulqarnain was among four cricketers of the Pakistan 'A' team, who were taken to a police station by Abu Dhabi police on May 4, one day before the EurAsia Cup final, alleged involvement in off-field activities.
The PCB decided not to take any action against the four players after endorsing the decision of manager of the team Shafiq Ahmad of imposing a fine of USD 300 on each player for not taking permission before leaving for Dubai.
As the PCB had cleared all the four players, the selection committee had no objection to select Zulqarnain for the camp, Bari said.
Taufiq is also included in the list while Misbah and Hasan were selected in the list of 'A' team's probable which will tour Australia.
Bari said all the probables, including those, who had been playing County cricket in England would be considered for the selection. "The selectors will consider all probables for the final team, setting aside the fact either they are available for the conditioning camp or not due to County cricket as their past performance is more important", he said.
Bari said that the final team would be finalised on June 9. "The selectors will hand over the team to the PCB on June 9 and it is up to them when they will announce it", he said.
Mohammad Asif, Shahid Afridi, Rana Navedul Hasan are playing in the County cricket in England. He said that the selected team will attend national training camp, most probably, from June 10.
The chief selector said it was not his responsibility to call back the players from County cricket to attend the training camp. "This is the area of the PCB to call back any player from England to attend the camp", Bari clarified.
Camp invitees: Inzamamul Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Malik, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Kamran Akmal, Salman Butt, Danish Kaneria, Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Faisal Iqbal, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Asim Kamal, Bazid Khan, Zulqarnain Haider.
|
|
|
|
