LAHORE, May 12: Twenty-two fast bowlers including Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, along with 13 openers including all other prominent players will attend a specialization coaching camp to be conducted by former great bowler Wasim Akram and opener Mudassar Nazar at National Cricket Academy here from May 16 to June 3. PCB Director game development, Mudassar Nazar, told Dawn that the camp was part of his efforts for the development of cricket.

"As a first step towards this programme, Specialization Coaching Camp for fast bowlers and opening batsmen has been scheduled from May 16," Mudassar explained.

He said besides Wasim and him, NCA chief coach Aaqib Javed would also impart training to the players.

Asked if bowlers like Shoaib Akhtar or Asif needed any further coaching, Mudassar said it would help both to further hone their skills. Furthermore, Shoaib would get a chance to improve his fitness during the camp training.

He said the players for the camp had been selected with the consultation of national selection committee.

Incidently, Imran Farhat, has also been included in the camp along with openers

Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez.

Mudassar said the players, who had to visit Abu Dhabi to play a three-match series against Sri Lanka from May 18 to 22 would join the camp from May 25.

Players:

Fast bowlers:

Shoaib Akhtar (Islamabad), Mohammad Asif (Sialkot), Umer Gul (Peshawar), Mohammad Sami (Karachi), Rao Iftikhar (Islamabad), Najaf Shah (Rawalpindi), Abdul Rauf (Multan), Mohammad Irshad (Multan), Mohammad Khalil (Lahore), Junaid Zia (Lahore), Uzair-ul-Haq (Karachi), Anwar Ali (Karachi), Kashif Daud (Sialkot), Shakil-ur-Rehman (Peshawar), Mohammad Amir (Rawalpindi), Rahat Ullah (Peshawar), Akhtar Ayub (Rawalpindi), Jamshed Ahmed (Lahore), Farhan Ayub (Hyderabad), Wahab Riaz (Lahore), Sohail Tanveer (Rawalpindi), Mohammad Junaid Khan (Abbotabad).

Openers:

Salman Butt (Lahore), Imran Nazir (Sialkot), Mohammad Hafeez (Faisalabad), Imran Farhat (Lahore), Khurram Manzoor (Karachi), Babar Naeem (Rawalpindi), Khalid Latif (Karachi), Shan Masood (Karachi), Agha Sabir (Karachi), Wajid Ali (Abbotabad), Nasir Jamshed (Lahore), Ahmed Shahzad (Lahore), Asif Zakir (Karachi).