Akram not happy with the 2-Test series

LONDON, MAY 4. Hardly had the bickering over his inclusion in the team died down, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram triggered another controversy by questioning the rationale of just a two- Test series against England though he stopped short of calling it an insult to his team.

``I don't know why we agreed to it or why the England and Wales Cricket Board offered it to us,'' Akram told reporters after the team's arrival here for a two-month tour of England.

``Although England won in Pakistan, we won the last three series here and we have more supporters here than anybody else. So it would have been a full house for a Test series of five matches.

``It is not an insult, but it won't be any fun. The first game, you're just getting into it, the second Test you are just picking up and then there is no third match-we will be on our way home. That's what I think, that is what everybody else is thinking,'' Akram said.

Pakistan will play two Tests against England and participate in a triangular one-day series also featuring Australia.

Akram, whose inclusion in the team was objected to by Waqar Younis, attempted to play down the differences with his captain. ``There is no problem between us-we were able to fly together for seven hours,'' he said.

Meanwhile, team manager Yawar Saeed said speedster Shoaib Akhtar would join the team later on the tour. Shoaib did not accompany the team due to a stomach problem and will miss Pakistan's tour opener against British Universities in Nottingham.

``There is no point in taking along a player whose fitness is in doubt,'' manager Yawar Saeed told newsmen after the team's arrival here. ``But I believe that Akhtar in due course will prove his fitness and will soon join the team.''

Even in the absence of Shoaib, Pakistan has a battery of fast bowlers including captain Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Mohammad Sami, Abdur Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood making it a very formidable pace attack.

- PTI

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