Pakistan to name South Africa tour squad; Saeed Anwar under pressure
After 12 years of international cricket and 11 Test centuries, opening batsman Saeed Anwar will find out this week if his career is drawing to a close.
The Pakistan Cricket Board, keen to invest in its emerging players, names a squad on Friday for next month’s tour of South Africa along with a 30-man party from which it will select its World Cup squad.
Saeed, 34, has played 55 Tests, 242 one-day internationals and in two World Cups. He missed last month’s 3-0 Test series defeat against world champions Australia, though, and was then omitted from the one-day and Test parties for the current tour of Zimbabwe, where Taufeeq Umer and Salim Elahi opened the innings. He still has the backing of coach Richard Pybus.
“I wouldn’t like to discard Saeed because he’s a class player,” Pybus said in an interview. “I don’t know how much cricket he’s played as his father-in-law is ill in hospital. But I would imagine he’s been training hard and looking to get back in to the team.”
Pybus and captain Waqar Younis are making their recommendations to the PCB today. Neither is on the selection panel chaired by Wasim Bari.
Wicketkeeper Rashid Latif, who recently suffered a back injury and lost his place to 20-year-old Kamran Akmal in Zimbabwe, is also under pressure. Former captain and keeper Moin Khan is a candidate for the World Cup squad. He led Pakistan to the final in 1999.
Pybus said the squad, still in Zimbabwe for a five-match one-day series, is in good spirits after winning both Test matches there. The scars of the Australian defeat, when Pakistan missed leading players such as Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wasim Akram, Saeed and Yousuf Youhana are healed.
“It was a learning curve for our young players,” Pybus said. “They now know what is expected at Test level. We were pleased to beat Zimbabwe but South Africa will be a tougher challenge.”
Pakistan play the first of five one-dayers in Durban, South Africa, on December 8, and two Tests from December 26. The World Cup begins on February 9 in the same country.