Pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar looks likely to miss the tour of England after scans of a stress fracture in his ankle revealed he must rest for six weeks, the Pakistan Cricket Board said on Thursday.
The announcement means Shoaib will be ruled out of the first two tests and it appears unlikely the 30-year-old speedster will be included when the squad is named this weekend.
"Experts in South Africa have confirmed his stress fracture has not healed and he needs to rest for upto six weeks before he is examined and cleared to resume bowling," director of cricket operations Saleem Altaf told Reuters.
Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer described the development as "sad" and said the team would try to do its best with its available resources.
Shoaib has not played since January due to various fitness problems including knee surgery carried out in Australia and the chronic ankle problem.
A swollen ankle has already prevented him from bowling for the last 10 days and Altaf said the board would have to carefully monitor his rehabilitation process.
Shoaib, who has taken 165 test and 199 one-day wickets, picked up the ankle injury during last year's home series against England when he took 17 wickets.
He limped out of action after playing the final test against India at Karachi in January.
"They (the selectors) have to decide how to tackle this issue and when to take a risk with him," Altaf added.
Although he has been given an A category central contract, injuries have restricted Shoaib to just six tests since February 2005.
The first match of the four-test series against England starts at Lord's on July 13.
