Pakistan drop Moin Khan
for England tour

Former Pakistan cricket captain Moin Khan has been dropped from the provisional 20-man squad announced on Tuesday for next month's tour of England.

"Moin Khan has been dropped because he has not been consistent behind the wickets in the recent past," chairman of selectors Wasim Bari said.

Pakistan Cricket Board director Munawwar Rana said the party of 16 players would be finalised within the next 48 hours.

"The announcement has been delayed because the fitness report on some of the players is still awaited," Rana said.

The omission of wicketkeeper Moin, who skippered Pakistan on their recent tour of New Zealand, was the major surprise. Rashid Latif, another former captain, took his place.

The 29-year-old Moin was replaced as captain earlier this month by Waqar Younis, with the PCB saying he had been advised to take a six-week rest because of a knee injury.

Moin, who holds the world record for the highest number of dismissals in one-day cricket (256), was passed fit earlier this month.

Latif, 32, who last played for Pakistan in Zimbabwe in 1997-98, was the first player to accuse his team-mates of deliberately throwing matches on the 1994-95 tour of South Africa.

Controversial paceman Shoaib Akhtar was named in the squad after the PCB received an "encouraging" report from the University of Western Australia, where he went for remedial work on his bowling action.

Akhtar was reported for a suspect bowling action in the fifth and final one-day international against New Zealand in February. He had earlier been reported for the same problem on the 1999-2000 tour of Australia.

Pakistan are due to fly to England on May 2 for two Tests against their hosts and a tri-nation one-day series also involving Australia.

Provisional squad:
Saeed Anwar, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Wasim, Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Faisal Iqbal, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Salim Elahi, Abdur Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Fazle Akbar, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmad and Rashid Latif.

Mail Cricket Editor