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Shoiab excluded from South Africa tour
The selectors have recalled 30-year-old middle-order batsman Asim Kamal after one year.
Pakistan cricket selectors on Friday excluded fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Shabbir Ahmed from a 17-member squad for next month's three-test series in South Africa.
We have checked the fitness of both fast bowlers and we feel they need some more time before competing in international cricket, Ehteshamuddin, one of the selectors said. T
he Pakistan Cricket Board on November 1st had barred Akhtar for two years and fellow fast bowler Mohammad Asif for one year after they tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.
But an appeals tribunal overturned the decision on December 5 and Asif was included in the team for the South Africa tour, which also includes uncapped wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has challenged the decision by Pakistan's appeals tribunal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Akhtar competed in Pakistan's Twenty20 tournament last week, but his team, Islamabad, was beaten in both group games. Asif represented the winner, Sialkot, in the same competition.
Ahmed, the 30-year-old right-arm paceman, was the first international player to be banned for a year in December 2005 for using a bowling action deemed illegal. The International Cricket Council cleared his action last week.
Fast bowlers Umar Gul and Shahid Nazir, who led Pakistan to a 2-0 victory in the home test series against the West Indies in the absence of Akhtar and Asif, are included in the squad for South Africa.
The selectors have also recalled 30-year-old middle-order batsman Asim Kamal after one year. Kamal has featured in 12 test matches, but played his last test match against England at Lahore in December 2005.
Team: Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Younis Khan, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Danish Kaneria, Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Asif, Shahid Nazir, Yasir Hameed, Asim Kamal, Rana Naved, Shoaib Malik, Zulqarnain Haider.
