Shoaib fit for 3rd Test?

Injury hit Pakistan may have the boost of having Shoaib Akhtar back for the third Test against England at Headingly in two weeks.

Akhtar has been out since February with a knee problem and then a stress fracture to his ankle, which has kept him oput of this series so far. He is needed badly, with Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Malik injured to deplete the tourist’s bowling options.

PCB director Abbas Zaidi told Reuters “[Shoaib] had a meeting with the team physiotherapist and trainer in England yesterday and they reported he was physically strong now and looking good for a comeback in a week’s time. They feel he needs to play one or two games to get back to full match fitness and then should be available for the third test.”