Woolmer hopeful over pace trio

Bob Woolmer may still have the resources of his key pace bowlers before the tour of England is finished © Getty Images

Pakistan's injury concerns surrounding their pace attack have not eased in time for the third Test against England, but the trio of Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan could return before the end of the tour.

Asif is the closest to playing again, while Shoaib is aiming to continue his rehabilitation with a match for Birmingham League side Berkswell this weekend. The Pakistani camp is also hopeful that Naved-ul-Hasan will have recovered from his groin injury in time for the five-match one-day series which follow the Tests.

Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, said: "Asif went through a fitness test yesterday [Wednesday]. He bowled eight overs pain free. Shoaib plays his first game in the Birmingham League on Saturday and we'll see how he comes through that. And Naved-ul-Hasan is due to start bowling again in the next couple of days.

"There is a thought he [Naved-ul-Hasan] might return to Sussex and work under the Sussex team and see if we can get him fit there. They did bring this up through Mushy [Mushtaq Ahmed] and suggested that might be the case. We will certainly look at that. But he definitely won't make the fourth Test match - and nor should he because he hasn't bowled for some time"

Woolmer stressed that Shoaib won't be rushed back before he has proved his fitness: "We want him to bowl at least eight full days of cricket before we can make any sort of statement about whether he will be fit for the last Test ."

Turning to Asif, Woolmer added that he was on target to take part in Pakistan's last tour match ahead of the final Test: "He's got another test today [Thursday] and if he comes through that he'll play against West Indies A at Shenley."