Moin gets vote of confidence

The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Lt Gen Tauqir Zia lifted the spirits of dismissed captain Moin Khan when he said the wicket keeper had a lot of cricket left in him.

"Who says his career is over? I want to make it clear that he still has a lot of cricket left in him. He is one of my favourite players," the general told reporters at the National Stadium Monday.

Moin was dumped from the Pakistan cricket team for the ongoing tour to England.

He was sacked as captain on the pretext that he was unfit and later dropped because the chairman of selectors felt his performance was inconsistent.

The general said he would like to see Moin being picked for the triangular one-day series against England and Australia starting next month. But emphasised that the eventual decision would be made by the selectors.

"I want the selectors to finalize the 16-man one-day squad as early as possible so that the replacements are sent quickly to allow them time to acclimatize and adjust to alien conditions," he said without ruling out the possibility that the player for the one-day series might leave during the second Test starting at Old Trafford from May 31.

The one-day tournament begins June 7.

While admitting that Pakistan team was facing leadership crisis, he clarified that Waqar Younis had been appointed captain for the England tour only.

He said: "It's our policy to appoint captain on series by series basis.

"The PCB still feels that Moin is the best candidate for the job of captaincy. But to regain captaincy, he will have to win back his place in the team."

Tauqir admitted that the suggestion to have different captains for different levels of the game worth discussion.

Australia made the innovation when they appointed Steve Waugh as captain of the one-day team with Mark Taylor leading the Test side since he struggled to find a place in limited overs internationals.

However, the same strategy failed when England appointed Adam Hollioake as captain of the one-day squad with Alec Stewart skippering the Test side. But it was more due to poor planning as Stewart is again back in the one-day fray.

The general said if the tour management feels that fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar was not fully fit, it should release him. He said he shared the same views about Mohammad Sami.

"They are our future. If we have to utilize them in years to come, we will have to preserve them from burn out and rigours of one-day cricket. I would like to handle the two the way Australia are taking care of Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie."