Date-stamped : 14 Dec1998 - 19:20
29 October 1997

Pakistan recall Wasim to lead

By Peter Deeley in Faisalabad

PAKISTAN have reacted sharply to their home Test series defeat
by South Africa, sacking captain Saeed Anwar within 24 hours of
the final game.

Wasim Akram returns to the captaincy for the coming four-sided
international series. Pakistan have now had three captains
within two months.

Ramiz Raja led the team in Toronto in the Sahara Cup and after
Pakistan's 4-1 defeat by India in a one-day series there, he
took the blame and was dropped in favour of Anwar.

Anwar admitted after the South Africa Test here that he was very
depressed at his lack of form during the series, scoring only 40
runs in five innings. He attributed it largely to the demands of
leadership and said then he was uncertain whether he wanted to
carry on.

West Indies, led by Courtney Walsh, World Cup champions Sri
Lanka, by Arjuna Ranatunga and Hansie Cronje's South Africa are
the other sides in the competition in Lahore over the coming
week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pakistan's
independence.

South Africa have sent home Brian McMillan, who had a poor Test
series with bat and ball and have recalled Fanie de Villiers,
who last played at international level in India last December.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk)

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