Woolmer urges Shoaib to regain full fitness

Bob Woolmer confirmed that Shoaib Akhtar was left out of the squad purely on fitness grounds and urged him to regain his full fitness by playing first-class cricket. Shoaib had said he was confused about the reasons for his exclusion from the squad chosen for the West Indian tour and had demanded an explanation from the selectors regarding the same.

"There is no personal agenda involved here," Woolmer was quoted as saying in The News, a Pakistan based daily. "All that is required is that he confirms his match fitness by getting back to bowling 20 to 25 overs in an innings of a first-class game and satisfies the selectors and we will be happy to have him back in the side."

Woolmer insisted that there was no contradiction with regard to the reasons for leaving Shoaib out of the squad. "The selectors and board has made it very clear that they feel he is not match fit," he said, "and that they want him to regain full match fitness and he would be considered for selection again."

He added that Shoaib was a matchwinning bowler but said, "The selectors first have to be satisfied with the fitness of a player."

Inzamam-ul-Haq, who kicked up a minor storm last week by saying that Shoaib was left out on disciplinary grounds, also spoke about Shoaib's omission and made it clear that he had nothing personal against him. "I think he should simply concentrate on regaining his match fitness and satisfying the selectors that he is fit," said Inzamam. "There is a lot of cricket coming up in the next few months including the home series against England and India."