LAHORE Recalling Nasir Ahmad as second goalkeeper and retaining Zeeshan Ashraf as captain, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) selection committee on Friday announced an 18-member squad for a short three-Test match offshore series against England to be held at Stafford from June 29 to July 3.
The selection committee headed by former Olympian Hasan Sardar with Rana Mujahid Ali, Khalid Bashir, Farhat Khan and Mohammad Shafiq as its members along with the federation President Qasim Zia and Secretary Asif Bajwa watched the trials before announcing the squad.
Nasir was dropped for the much-important Asia Cup due to his bad performance in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup with just Salman Akbar serving as the custodian of the goalpost in the event that saw Pakistan taking the second position. But the selectors also picked Nasir while retaining Salman for the less-important series of England.
While commenting on the decision of taking along two goalkeepers, Hasan Sardar hinted that it might be Nasir's last chance to prove his worth.
'Nasir did not play at par in the Azlan Shah Cup so he was dropped for the Asia Cup but we are providing him with another chance before taking a decision about his future,' Hasan said.
When asked how they could guarantee giving Nasir a chance to prove his worth when Salman Akbar was also going as the first goalie, Hasan said that no one could guarantee anything but Nasir might get a chance to play there.
Asked if it would have been better if the selectors had picked an upcoming goalkeeper from the junior lot to try out with Salman Akbar, he said that Nasir due to his being more experienced deserved another chance.
Meanwhile, backing the chief selector, Asif Bajwa said that this would be the last series to assess the potential of every player in the squad as after that a winning combination would be finalised to field a strong team in the World Cup qualifers (in November), the 2010 Asian Games and the 2010 World Cup.
Bajwa said that the series against England was planned because England and Belgium could be Pakistans rivals in the World Cup qualifiers.
He said negotiations were also underway to arrange a series with China adding that the PHF had proposed to the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) to increase the quota of teams from Asia in the World Cup because the competition in the region had been tough.
'As more competitive teams have emerged in the Asian region, the qualification of only the winners of the Asia Cup to the World Cup is not justifiable,' he explained.
Bajwa said that the AHF delegation would also visit Pakistan in September and this proposal would be discussed further as the AHF president agreed with it. He said increasing the teams from 12 to 16 to 18 in the World Cup would also help enhance the popularity of the game in the world.
According to the schedule, the team leaves for England from Lahore on June 27. Pakistan will play a practice match against England on June 29 and the first Test will be played on June 30 with the remaining two to be played on July 2 and 3. All matches will be played at Stafford.
Team
Goalkeepers Salman Akbar, Nasir Ahmad.
Fullbacks Zeeshan Ashraf (captain), Mohammad Imran, Ehsanullah, Amir Shahzad.
Halves Mohammad Irfan, Zeeshan Ali, Waseem Ahmad, Fareed Ahmad, Muhammad Rashid, Sajjad Anwar.
Forwards Waqas Sharif, Shafqat Rasool, Abdul Haseem Khan, Mohammad Zubair, Akhtar Ali, Abbas Haider.
Officials Asif Bajwa (manager), Shahid Ali Khan (coach), Shahbaz Jr. (assistant coach), Nadeem Khan Lodhi (video analyst), Faiz-ur-Rehman (physio) and Shahzad Malik (media manager).
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