after PCB told him to rest for 4 weeks he goes to england, plays 2 games and gets himself injured for the rest of the english season..
Injured Shoaib may miss rest of county season
By Waheed Khan
KARACHI: The rib cage injury to Pakistan’s speedster Shoaib Akhtar has turned out to be more serious than earlier anticipated and he faces the grim possibility of having to miss the rest of the county season for Durham.
“I have been advised up to two weeks rest right now by the doctors after they had a second bone scan of my injury. There is a definite stress fracture in my rib on my lower left side. I will have another examination after the rest period and let us see how it goes,” Shoaib told ‘The News’ from England on Friday.
But he was not willing to speculate on his chances of playing out the season for Durham who are reportedly paying him over eight million rupees for the entire season.
But sources close to him said that Shoaib had already informed the Durham county management that they should start looking for a replacement for him for the rest of the season, as he was not sure if he would be able to make a complete recovery from his injury and play according to the gruelling schedule of the county championship.
“The very fact that Shoaib himself has told the Durham management about his condition and asked them to look for a replacement does not augur well for his chances of lasting out the season for them,” one source said.
Shoaib said that although doctors had told him that the healing process of his stress fracture would take place naturally he was not feeling comfortable.
“The fracture is there and it is worrying me. I now want to be 100 per cent sure it has healed before I start playing again. I will resume playing after I get clearance from the doctors after the next examination in two weeks time,” he said.
Durham have played a little known Pakistani all rounder Tahir Mughal in one match as a back up for Shoaib.
The enigmatic fast bowler faced a medical commission inquiry last month after he limped off the field in the third and final Test against India at Rawalpindi and could not bowl at all on the third day.
But his whirlwind batting on the fourth day when Pakistan was hurtling to a series defeat raised doubts about how serious his injury really was and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) moved to set up a medical commission and hold an inquiry into his injury. Bone scans conducted by the commission confirmed he had a stress fracture in his 11th rib cage and was causing him pain. Another bone scan conducted earlier this week in Newcastle by the Durham medical team confirmed that the stress fracture had not healed properly.
The second test was conducted after Shoaib played a couple of matches for Durham soon after joining them and the PCB expressed concern how he had made such a quick recovery from his stress injury to play for Durham.
The 28-year old in the past has also faced injury problems and one of them caused him to terminate a county contract with Nottinghamshire few years back.
Shoaib said he was disappointed at not being able to play according to schedule for Durham but said there was nothing he could do except wait.
“After the first few games I was stiff and it was hurting it was when I realised that I needed to undergo proper treatment and rest for it to heal,” he added.
If Shoaib’s injury does not heal properly in a month’s time and he is forced to end his contract with Durham it would be a big blow to Pakistan’s chances of doing well in the Asia Cup competition scheduled to begin in Sri Lanka from July 15.
you don’t see Sami around. do you?