Pakistan pair miss World Cup
Friday, 2 March 2007Pakistan pace duo Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif are the latest big-name players to be ruled out of the World Cup through injury.
Shoaib has been struggling with the knee problem that forced him to withdraw from his country's South African tour in January, while Asif has been labouring with an elbow knock picked up on the same trip.
Yasir Arafat and Mohammad Sami have been drafted into the squad as replacements but the pair will not join up with their team-mates until a later date.
The news about Shoaib and Asif comes after several weeks of speculation over the fitness of the pair, who also hit the headlines last year after both tested positive for nandrolone only to have their lengthy bans quashed on appeal in December.
Having already lost Kyle Mills to a serious knee injury, New Zealand also have fitness doubts over all-rounder Jacob Oram, who broke his finger during the a recent Chappell-Hadlee Trophy match against Australia.
Oram is so desperate to play in the Caribbean, he claims he is even prepared to have the finger amputated.
