Shoaib: 'I need to prove myself'

Shoaib Akhtar has signed to play for Durham for the remainder of the season, and is due to meet with club officials tomorrow to decide when he will join the county.

"I need to prove myself to myself, the counties and everyone around England," said Shoaib. "I am very strong at the moment, still bowling at 98 miles per hour and I can serve Durham well. I do not need a break. I want to get straight into it. There are 10 championship matches left and I will be doing everything I can to get them there.

"I've talked to Javed Miandad and he told me I was better off playing championship cricket than anything else. I just want to bowl a lot and learn a lot by playing county cricket."

Shoaib replaces the fast bowler, Dewald Pretorius, who was a surprise call-up for South Africa's tour of England. Shoaib, who has taken 88 wickets at 27.18 in 25 Tests, and 142 at 21.2 in 86 one-day internationals, is the only player to have officially broken the 100mph barrier for bowling.

"This is excellent news for Durham," said Bill Midgley, Durham's chairman. "Losing Dewald was a big miss for us but signing the first bowler to bowl at 100mph is fantastic - let's see if he can do it at the Riverside and get everyone off their seats!"

Durham's captain Jon Lewis was equally excited by the news. "I'm delighted Shoaib is joining us," he said. "He's a very exciting prospect. He was very keen to come here and that is great for Durham. He's capable of producing devastating spells of fast bowling and I'm really looking forward to playing alongside him."

With Shoaib at one end, and England's fastest bowler Steve Harmison at the other, Durham can look forward to an explosive remainder of the summer.