Cricket: Pakistan drop Javed from touring party

JAVED MIANDAD, the third highest run-scorer in Test cricket, has been dropped by Pakistan for their tour of Bangladesh and New Zealand. The omission of Javed was a unanimous selection decision, the newly formed ad hoc committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan said yesterday.

It is the first time the 36-year-old Javed has been dropped for a tour since 1976. He has played 124 Tests and his 8,832-run aggregate is third behind the world's leading Test scorers, Allan Border (10,934) and Sunil Gavaskar (10,122).

Ramiz Raja, the opening batsman, and the pace bowler Aaqib Javed were also overlooked for the tour starting on 22 January.

Atif Rauf, a middle-order batsman, is the debutant in the tour squad while two other players seeking to establish themselves are Shakeel Ahmad, the reserve wicketkeeper and opening batsman, and the paceman Aamir Nazir.

Wasim Akram will captain the team, who play three Tests and five one-day games against New Zealand after a 10-day goodwill visit to Bangladesh to play unofficial matches.

PAKISTAN SQUAD: Wasim Akram (capt), Waqar Younis (vice-capt), Shoaib Mohammad, Aamir Sohail, Saeed Anwar, Salim Malik, Inzamam-ul-haq, Basit Ali, Asif Mujtaba, Rashid Latif (wkt), Atif Rauf, Mushtaq Ahmed, Aamir Nazir, Ata-ur-Rehman, Shakeel Ahmed (wkt).