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Shoaib, Saqlain's county bid under review

The Pakistan Cricket Board is likely to decide on Friday whether to allow speed merchant Shoaib Akhtar and off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq to appear in the full English season.

Pakistan's tour to the West Indies in April, the Asia Cup in Dhaka in late May and the return series against Sri Lanka in July coincide with the English season.

"We will decide the matter in our meeting on Friday," Yawar Saeed, director of operations at the Pakistan board, said.

Akhtar, dubbed the 'Rawalpindi Express', was contracted by Nottinghamshire while Mushtaq has had a long term contract with Surrey since 1997.

Nottinghamshire had set February 20 to finalise a decision on Akhtar and showed interest in rehiring New Zealand's allrounder Chris Cairns.

Akhtar was banned by the International Cricket Council technical committee for having an illegal delivery action in December but was later allowed to play in the tri-series in Australia. The 24-year-old bowler was automatically reinstated into Test cricket after a landmark decision of the ICC barred the technical committee from banning bowlers with suspect actions.

Akhtar is extremely keen to play the county season but reports in Lahore suggest the Pakistan board will not allow both bowlers to play the full season since they want a full strength team to take on the West Indies.

Pakistan will play three Tests and a triangular one-day series also involving Zimbabwe in the Caribbean.