Conditioning camp underway without top stars

Pakistan's conditioning camp for the summer tour to England began in Lahore on Thursday shorn of a majority of first-team and senior players and coach Bob Woolmer.

A majority of the players expected to make the final 16-man squad for the tour were not present, either busy playing league or county cricket in England or with a Pakistan XI, led by Inzamam-ul-Haq, playing exhibition matches against an Asian XI in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. They are expected over the weekend, when the conditioning camp will begin in earnest. Woolmer is expected to join them as well, to supervise the team's preparations for the tour.

Of the 21 players chosen by the selection committee last week, Rana Naved-ul-Hassan, Mohammad Asif and Shahid Afridi will miss the entire camp because of commitments in England. Rana and Asif and playing country cricket while Afridi is featuring in a league competition. The three, however, are certain to make the final 16 for the tour of England and will join the team in Lahore directly for the cricket camp which follows the 12-day conditioning exercise.

Another notable absentee on the first day, according to a report in Dawn, was Shoaib Akhtar. Although Shoaib Malik, Taufeeq Umar, Asim Kamal Faisal Iqbal, Zulqernain Haider, Bazid Khan and Rao Iftikhar Anjum all attended, Shoaib didn't, despite being in the city. Trainer Grant Compton, who has worked with Shoaib on his fitness recently, was not aware of Shoaib's whereabouts.

Shoaib has been sidelined since the Test series against India ended in early February with a stress fracture of the ankle and a knee injury. He traveled to Australia for surgery on the latter problem and has recently begun bowling again.