Spinners hold key in Lahore

“There is a possibility that we may play two spinners and if we go with seven batsmen Flintoff has a chance of playing on Wednesday,” England coach Duncan Fletcher said.

England has summoned Lancashire allrounder Andrew Flintoff as a replacement for injured pace bowler Dominic Cork, one of several tourists under an injury cloud.

Middle order batsman Michael Vaughan is also doubtful but captain Nasser Hussain and allrounder Craig White came through their net sessions.

“Hussain had a back problem but he is fit and White, who had a hamstring problem, looks reasonably in good shape,” England physiotherapist Dean Conway said.

“Vaughan is heavily strapped as his calf injury has not healed and he is still doubtful for the Test while Cork is out due to a back problem.”

England has steered clear of Pakistan since their last tour in 1987-88, which was marred by an on-field row between then England captain Mike Gatting and Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana.

The current tour has not been without incident, with England opener Alec Stewart being named in India’s match-fixing report and Hussain and speedster Andy Caddick coming close to warnings for dissent over umpiring decisions.

Flintoff, who played in the one-day series, was originally named in the Test squad but had to go back home after his back problem recurred.

“If Hussain goes through five days of the Test and Vaughan regains fitness, Flintoff may return (to England) in a week’s time,” Fletcher said.

England’s spinners — left-armer Ashley Giles and leg-spinner Ian Salisbury — have looked below average compared with the home team’s tweakers.

Giles took six wickets while Salisbury chipped in with four in England’s two wins in side games, but they never posed serious problems or the weaker provincial teams.

Pakistan is likely to enter the Test with two regular pinners — Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed — backed up by two spinning allrounders, Shahid Afridi and Qaiser Abbas.

Abbas, 18, played two impressive innings of 71 and 44 against England in the Rawalpindi four-day game and looks set to make his Test debut.

In the 18 Tests played between the two countries in Pakistan, the home team has won two to England’s one. England leads the overall chart in the 55 Tests between the two countries, having won 14 to Pakistan’s nine.

No place for Waqar

ACE seamer Waqar Younis has been dropped from Pakistan’s 14-man squad for the first Test against England beginning here Wednesday, team officials said.

Selectors while acknowledging that Waqar was a great player, insisted that he did not fit with their plans for Lahore, which is expected to favour spinners.

“Waqar is an experienced player and it’s very unfortunate that he doesn’t come in to our scheme of things for the first Test because we will be playing on a spinning track,” said Chief selector Wasim Bari.

Younis, 28, has taken 308 wickets in 67 Tests and was declared man-of-the-series in the Test series against Sri Lanka played here in March.

The Team: Moin Khan (Captain), Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saeed Anwar, Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Salim Elahi, Yousuf Youhanna, Qaiser Abbas, Abdur Razzak, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Danish Kaneria, and Azhar Mahmood.