Shoaib 'must prove match fitness' .>

[Orchid]

Originally Posted by Ernest

it reduces Pakitans chance of a series win.

From memory, the last 3 tests Pakistan has won, 1 each against Sri Lanka; India and West Indies was without Shaoib Akhtar playing. These days, Shoaib's presence or absence doesn't seem to impact Pakistan's performance. And I don't think even the die hard Pakistani fans are looking for a series win, be it with or without Shoaib.

[Ernest]

Yes I take your point, but similer things were said about Brett Lee just months before the Ashes, then when he got selected, he bowled well, I think it just needed selectors having faith in him.
I hope Shaoib Akhtar will play for the same reason, I think he would like the chance to play in this series, if he did well, it would be hard to shift him from the team, I would like to think England were playing the best Pakistan 1X.

I think England players play spin just that bit better than is thought, plenty of practice this year facing Warne, looking forward to this series, should be some good cricket, a lot also rests on how well Kaneria bowls.

[Captain]

I think Umar Gul, Shabbir Ahmed, Abdul Razzaq, Danish kaneria, and Naveed ul-Hasan, Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi, should be played they truly play this game to enjoy it and they have variation and try to out duel the batsman, and their performances are consistent and on the rise, whereas with Shoaib Akhtar, he really has not improved much and has been prone to injury problems, and in my view has a negative impact, I am glad that Woolmer has said that 'if you odn't fit the bill' you won't get selected. I think seeing the others playing their heart out is a much better sight, than a bloke running in from 30 meters and throwing a ball as hard as he can, australia have already shown time and time again that that does not work, thats what Brett Lee used to do and he really did not play then, since he has worked on line and lenght and geting the ball to swing and suddenly he looks like one of the best. Shoaib needs an extended time in the sidelines and in my view play out this QEA season with Rawalpindi. With Sami, i would say that he is learning and i reserve my judgement on him at this time.

[Maranello]

You are right Captain, Pakistan are better off without someone who cannot give 100% to the team every single minute, and who cannot work hard enough. He can take his mythical "talent" and go, to let the others carry on with the team-building process.

His attitude to training and his fitness levels leave a lot to be desired; for instance, this is what Woolmer said about Shoaib today, on his website in response to a question:

Originally Posted by Bob Woolmer

REPLY BY: BOB, (21 Oct 2005, 05h08:09)

Originally Posted by Bob Woolmer

Hi Haris,
Obviously we would like to have him [Shoaib Akhtar] available, but even today he did not show up for the first day of the camp! With no explanation!
Bob

[Zainub]

I don't think Mushy will be affective Rachael - it's one thing being the leading wicket taker (or whereabouts) for 3 seasons in English conditions , quite another doing anything in that context in Pakistan conditions . He was hopeless in the trial matches and got absolutely carted around (ditto for his test performance vs. SA 2 years ago), plus he is on the wrong side of 30 (and hence has very limited future prospects) not forgetting that he's an absolute passenger in the field. We'd be better served by others I think. I can't also quite the see the wisdom in picking Arshad Khan, whose just gone through 17 wickets less overs for Pakistan A against a full strength England on what is being described as a sporting wicket.

In fact I don't neccesarly think picking 5 spinners in our squad (and just 1 genuine opener!) is a policy I would subscribe to. You cannot argue with the likes of Umar Gul, Yasser Arafat (ten wickets in first warm up game) and Mohammad Asif (10 wickets in 2nd warm up game) for feeling hard done - they have every right to. Overloading the team with spinners is a dangerous tactic - it could seriously backfire.