LAHORE: Four players, including seasoned batsman Mohammad Hafeez and Test spinner Zulfiqar Babar, out of a total of 36 cricketers named for the national boot camp will not attend it due to injuries.

The camp under the supervision of Army trainers is being set up in Abbottabad from Saturday, as part of Pakistan’s preparations for the long England tour starting in July.

Apart from Hafeez and Zulfiqar, young middle-order batsman Haris Sohail and all-rounder Imad Wasim are also included in the injury list and will therefore not attend the Abbottabad camp.

Pakistan on the England tour are scheduled to play four Tests, five ODIs and one-off T20.

Hafeez, 35, has been suffering from a knee injury since the World T20 while left-handed Haris has been out of picture due to a prolonged shoulder injury since June last year when he returned home during the series in Sri Lanka.

After starting his ODI career against the West Indies in July 2013 at Gros Islet as a talented middle-order batsman with ability to bowl useful left-arm spin, 27-year-old Haris unfortunately has not been able to maintain the required fitness level.

Southpaw Imad, 27, who emerged on limited-overs international front last year as an impressive all-rounder, has also been plagued with injury issues on regular basis; and the player has failed to recover to come back and play consistently at international level.

Slow left-arm spinner, Zulfiqar who has established himself as a key Test bowler, is also on the injury list.

Reports about pace spearhead Mohammad Amir facing problems in getting England visa due to his conviction in England in the 2010 spot-fixing case — along with Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif — may further add to Pakistan’s worries in the lead-up to the England tour.

Probables:

Openers: Mohammad Hafeez (subject to fitness test clearance), Sami Aslam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azhar Ali, Sharjeel Khan, Khurram Manzoor, Shan Masood.

Middle-order batsmen: Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail (subject to fitness test clearance), Khalid Latif, Fawad Alam, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Asif Zakir, Abid Ali.

All-rounders: Anwar Ali, Bilawal Bhatti.

Fast bowlers: Mohammad Amir, Rahat Ali (subject to fitness test clearance), Imran Khan, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Hasan Ali.

Wicket-keepers: Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Adnan Akmal.

Spinners: Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Asghar, Imad Wasim (subject to fitness test clearance), Bilal Asif, Zohaib Khan.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2016