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LAHORE, Dec 4: Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq urged the people of Lahore to turn up in large numbers in the first ODI on Saturday against England at Qadhafi Stadium to help raise funds for the earthquake victims.
Talking to reporters on Thursday, Inzamam said that he wished the PCB collects maximum funds through this match enabling them to help the victims generously. The PCB and its England counterpart have already dedicated the revenue of the first ODI match of five-match series on Saturday, for the earthquake victims.
Around 75,000 were killed due to quake and more than three hundred thousand became homeless.
“I will make a request to the people to come and watch the match in good numbers. The victims need our help and their problems have multiplied with the start of the winter season,” Inzamam remarked.
Meanwhile, Inzamam said that his team would try its level best to play with the same spirit as it showed in the Test series. “No doubt it is a different game but with team spirit we can get the same results in one-day series.”
He said that if England had been playing without some key players like Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss because of various reasons while Simon Jones missed the entire tour due to fitness problems, Pakistan also faced problems of their own. The home team missed Shabbir Ahmed and Shahid Afridi in some matches while Abdul Razzaq in all three Tests.
He claimed that England had the talent to stage a comeback in the one-day series and they would try to come out with all guns blazing to salvage pride by winning the limited-overs series.
Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik could miss the first One-day International against England on Saturday if a trip to Australia for tests on his bowling action has left him too jet-lagged to play.
“Shoaib Malik is coming back on Friday so he will be available here but whether he plays in the first match will depend on how he feels because he will be very tired,” Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer said on Thursday
Malik has gone to the University of Western Australia where biomechanics professor Bruce Elliot will conduct tests on his bowling action, which was reported after the first Test in Multan last month.
Malik was also reported in October last year but was cleared by the ICC under its new regulations on illegal bowling actions.
“We are confident he will clear the tests as there is no major issue in his action,” Woolmer said.
Pace bowler Shabbir Ahmed was also reported after the first Test, in which he took five wickets.
It was the second time Shabbir had been reported for an illegal action under the current process and, if found guilty, he could be suspended from bowling in international cricket for 12 months.
The Pakistan Cricket Board have decided not to play Shabbir until his action has been cleared.
Pakistan are also without all-rounder Shahid Afridi for the first two one-day games due to an ICC ban for scuffing the pitch during the second Test in Faisalabad.
The home team won the Test series against England 2-0 but have not played a One-day International since May when they beat West Indies.
“It’s funny in sport, if you leave something and then come back to it you have to relearn it a bit,” said Woolmer. “We start the series knowing it is 50-50 between us and England.”—Reuters
