Injured Pakistanis head home

Pakistan have called up Taufeeq Umar and Rao Iftikhar Anjum to replace the injured Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Malik, who have both left the England tour and are heading home.

Both players have been suffering from elbow injuries, and despite early optimism that one or both of them could return before the end of the test series, it has been decided that they will not be able to recover before the end of the tour and should return home to Pakistan.

It is a loss that will be sorely felt by Pakistan, a side already weakened by the absence of Shoaib Akhtar due to a stress fracture, as Asif has proven a revelation in his test career to date with 25 wickets in his first 5 tests, and Malik is a crucial member of the test and particularly the one-day side.

Shoaib Akhtar though is training with Warwickshire and is considered a possible starter later in the series.