January 24, 2007	Wednesday	Muharram 04, 1428

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LAHORE, Jan 23: Pakistan cricket selectors on Tuesday turned down captain Inzamam-ul-Haq’s request to send fast bowler Shabbir Ahmed as reinforcement for the third Test which begins at Cape Town from Friday.

According to PCB sources, the selectors are not confident about the match-fitness of the lanky pacer and feel that it would be difficult for him to switch on to international cricket so quickly after a one-year layoff due to ICC ban.

Earlier, it was learnt that following Inzamam's request to fly out Shabbir to South Africa as replacement for injured pacers Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul, the PCB chairman had asked the tall fast bowler to report to board’s specialist at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) on Monday to prove his physical fitness.

Shabbir, who was set to play for Multan against Abbottabad in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Silver League match starting from Wednesday (today), was surprisingly asked to play a club cricket match at the Aligarh Ground on Tuesday to prove his fitness after reports that he dislocated his ankle a few days ago.

“I did bowl around 12 overs in the match at Aligarh Ground without any pain but I have no knowledge about my travelling to South Africa,” Shabbir told Dawn on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a Pakistan Cricket Board official said on Tuesday that all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Abdur Rehman, Shabbir Ahmed and Rao Iftikhar are all under consideration for next month’s five-match One-day Internationals series against South Africa.

“The chief selector is in constant contact with the team management in South Africa to give a final shape to the one-day squad and Shabbir is also being considered for the series,” PCB Director Communications, Dr Ahsan Malik told reporters.