SHARJAH, Feb 13: Wasim Akram will set a new bowling benchmark when Pakistan take on beleaguered West Indies in three One-day Internationals here from Thursday.

The brilliant all-rounder, the only bowler to top 400 wickets in both Tests and one-dayers, needs just four more to reach the unprecedented figure of 450 in the shorter version of the game.

Wasim, fully recovered from a hamstring injury that kept him out of two recent Test series against Bangladesh and the West Indies, warned his rivals that he was eager to produce his best.

“I am fit and raring to go,” the 34-year-old veteran said Wednesday. “Having lost out on a lot of cricket, I am hungry for wickets.”

The left-hander, who also has 414 Test wickets under his belt, was not missed when Pakistan destroyed the injury-hit West Indies in the two Tests that ended last week, winning the first by 170 runs and the second by 244.

But the former Lancashire professional remains an integral part of the Pakistani attack and looks forward to playing in his fifth World Cup in South Africa next year.

Wasim’s return for the one-day series, along with young off-spinner Shoaib Malik, bolsters an already top-class Pakistani attack comprising captain Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdur Razzaq and Saqlain Mushtaq.

That will hardly be good news for Carl Hooper’s West Indians, struggling to bat their way out of trouble in the absence of injured stars Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Marlon Samuels.

The West Indies have called up rookie all-rounder Runako Morton to replace Samuels, who underwent arthoscopic surgery on a painful left knee here last week.

The 23-year-old Leeward Islands player won a trip to this desert venue after scoring 104 against Trinidad in a recent domestic match that gave him the highest aggregate of 294 runs in the season so far.

The adage that catches win matches appears to be lost on the West Indies. At the moment they would not even catch a cold, having failed to grasp 13 chances in the two Test matches here.

“We’ve obviously got to improve our fielding and catches if we are to match Pakistan,” Hooper said.

“It’s got to be an all-round improvement, but batting and fielding remains a big worry.”

West Indian coach Roger Harper, himself a brilliant fielder in his playing days, said it was up to the team to deliver on the field.

“You can teach them anything off it, but they have to go out there and do it,” Harper said.

Pakistan, who have won six Tests on the trot, are overwhelming favourites to wrap up the one-dayers — but don’t tell coach Mudassar Nazar that.

“I won’t get fooled by these recent successes, we have a lot of work to do on our batting and fielding,” Mudassar said.

“Besides one-dayers are so unpredictable, it could be anyone’s day.”

The return of limited-overs cricket to Sharjah, which has hosted more games (181) than any venue in the world, is expected to draw in the crowds after the lean response to the first ever Test series here.

“Tickets are back in demand,” an official said. “There should be a full house on Thursday, Friday and Sunday.”—AFP