CASTRIES, St Lucia, CMC – An untried but confident Pakistan arrived here Friday afternoon for the first leg of their Caribbean tour promising an exciting brand of cricket in the Twenty20 International and five One Day Internationals against hosts West Indies.
Speaking at a brief welcome ceremony, manager Intikhab Alam said while the unit included several players who would be representing the Pakistan for the first time, he expected them to play bold and attractive cricket.
“I have brought a very young side with me and I am quite sure you are going to enjoy the type of cricket we are going to play,” Intikhab said. The side arrived at the Hewanorra International Airport south of here and was met by officials of the St Lucia Cricket Association and series sponsors Digicel and Scotiabank.
Pakistan are missing four key players for the ODI leg of the tour with wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Abdul Razzaq and Umar Gul all left out for varying reasons. Intikhab said Pakistan were looking forward to the tour as they held great respect for West Indies cricketing tradition. “On behalf of the Pakistan team I would like to thank you for the very warm welcome extended to us,” said the former Pakistan captain who played 47 Tests between 1959 and 1977. “It is always a pleasure to come to the Caribbean. I have been coming here since 1958 and played with your great cricketers like Sir Garfield Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd, (Sir Clyde) Walcott and (Sir Frank) Worrell and I cherished their friendship.
“Whenever we met we talked about old times. I have great regard for your cricketers.”
Pakistan will open their tour with a limited overs affair against the UWI Vice-Chancellor’s XI at the Mindoo Philip Park here Monday. The match was originally scheduled for the Beausejour Cricket Ground but officials have decided to give the outfield there a few extra days to recover from a bug infestation that left barren patches on several areas of the outfield. Pakistan will clash with West Indies in the lone T20I next Thursday before playing the first of two ODIs at Beausejour starting two days later.
SQUAD – Shahid Afridi (captain), Misbah-Ul-Haq, Ahmed Shahzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Umar Akmal, Usman Salahuddin, Asad Shafiq, Hammad Azman, Junaid Khan, Tanveer Ahmed, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Salman, Sadaf Hussain.
