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| February 11, 2007 | Sunday | Muharram 22, 1428 |
ICC spurns PCB’s request
KARACHI, Feb 10: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has rejected a request by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to put back the deadline for naming their World Cup squad, a cricket board official said on Saturday.
However, due to an increasing number of injury problems, the PCB has filed a second request to delay the naming of their final 15-member squad, which is due to be submitted on Feb 13 along with all other participating teams.
“Our first request was turned down and the ICC said if we had any injury problems, we could ask for replacements from the World Cup technical committee as per the rules,” PCB director of cricket operations Saleem Altaf said.
Saleem said he had informed the ICC that it was difficult for Pakistan to name a final squad on time as the team returned from South Africa on Feb 16 and it would not be clear which players were fit.
Pakistan has fitness concerns over pace bowlers Shoaib Akhtar, Shabbir Ahmed, Umar Gul and Mohammad Sami.
“We don't have enough time to ascertain the extent of injuries to the players as the team returns home only after the ICC deadline,” Saleem explained.
“There would be little time for examination of the injuries so we still want the extension,” he said while adding that the new appeal would be made before the ICC's technical committee.
Fast bowler Mohammad Asif, currently on the tour, is also threatened by an elbow injury.
Pakistan sent Azhar Mahmood and Rao Iftikhar as replacement after injuries to Shabbir and Sami before the on-going five-match one-day series.—Agencies
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