Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar to join team before first test

KARACHI, Jan 8 (Reuters) Pakistani cricket authorities have decided to rush fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar to South Africa to join the team before the first test in Johannesburg which starts on Thursday.

Akhtar, who was last month cleared of a doping offence, was due to fly out by Tuesday, sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) told Reuters today.

''There is a problem with the flights schedule or he would have left immediately,'' one source said. No officials were available for immediate comment.

The decision to rush Akhtar to South Africa has apparently been taken after an injury scare to pacer Umar Gul who is carrying an ankle problem and is doubtful for the first test.

Pakistan has also lost senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf and allrounder Shoaib Malik for the opening test.

Yousuf is looking after his ill wife and Malik has been advised to take two weeks' rest to recover from an ankle injury.

Akhtar, Pakistan's most senior bowler in the team with 165 test and 208 one-day wickets, was not picked for the test series as the selectors said he needed to regain his match fitness and form.

He and fellow pacer Mohammad Asif were cleared of having intentionally taken a banned substance, nandrolone, by an appeals commission of the board after they had earlier been banned for two years and one year by an inquiry tribunal.

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