Pakistan pace plans grind to a standstill

Pakistan were forced to rule another injured fast bowler out of their disintegrating team last night but warned England that the last men standing would fight the good fight at Lord's.

The countdown to today's first npower Test has resembled two old soldiers trying to outdo each other by comparing war wounds.

England are without a host of Ashes winners, while the tourists had been preparing to wheel out a patched-up attack minus their top two pacemen — Shoaib Akhtar and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.

But their predicament deteriorated further as they admitted that explosive rookie seamer Mohammad Asif would not be fit to play.

The 23-year-old picked up an elbow injury in the match against England 'A' at Canterbury last week and was unable to recover in time.

A decision will be made this morning about opening batsman, Shoaib Malik, who has also been troubled by an elbow following surgery in April.

Should he miss out, Salman Butt will return. Bob Woolmer, Pakistan's English coach, revealed: "We're just about down to our last 11 fit men — the bare minimum.

"Shoaib Malik looks pretty doubtful, he has had a cortisone injection and it is painful, but he may wake up fine in the morning, so we won't write him off.

"Mohammad Asif would have played but he has not responded as well as we had hoped to an injection, so he will miss this match."

Instead Umar Gul, who has played just seven Tests but impressed at Canterbury, will take the new ball with Mohammad Sami. While England have used their lengthy injury list as an excuse for underachievement this year, their rivals are refusing to follow suit.

Instead of angling for sympathy, they are exuding defiance. Without so much talent and experience in their attack, there must be a genuine concern about whether Pakistan can take 20 wickets, but Woolmer said: "Whoever we select will fight all the way. We have bowlers missing, so the others will just have to do the job instead."

In the circumstances, Pakistan will lean heavily on the feisty spin of Danish Kaneria, who has earned his stripes in English conditions at Essex.

The seamers will be backed up by Abdul Razzaq, and Shahid Afridi will provide another spinning option — as well as threatening pyrotechnics in the middle order — if he is preferred to Faisal Iqbal.

The tourists' batting will revolve around a trio of formidable class — captain Inzamam ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. Fourth, sixth and seventh respectively in the world rankings, they average 59, 48 and 51.

Under Woolmer, Pakistan have shed their old stereotype. They are no longer just a collection of gifted individuals cobbled together, never quite amounting to the sum of their parts.

They have jumped above England to No 2 in the ICC Test league table and despite the injury issues will present a daunting challenge.