LAHORE - Shoaib Akhtar failed to embark on the London-bound plane with the Pakistan squad last Wednesday and is now most likely to miss at least the first two of a trio of three-day games leading up to the first Test on May 17. That is, if at all he recovers enough to clear a series of fitness tests and is allowed to proceed to England for the tour, this correspondent learnt from a Pakistan Cricket Board official.

The injury-prone speedster, who is said to be averse to training sessions and fitness tests, was suffering from a rather mysterious stomach ailment. The condition caused dehydration, and he felt so drained of energy that he asked to be excused from the fitness tests, claiming that he had been administered saline drips.

The PCB in turn did not allow him to board the plane with the rest of the team. "The PCB thought that an unfit player should not be allowed to go on tour. If he can get fit quickly enough, he should clear his tests here and then go on tour. Unfit players on tour create unnecessary hassles", said the PCB official, on conditions of anonymity.

Answering a question as to when Shoaib was expected to present himself for fitness tests, the official said that the onus was now on the speedster. As soon as he requests to undergo tests, he would be put through them.

As to why he was selected in the first place if his fitness was in doubt, the PCB official said that the report from Down Under, where he had been sent for evaluation after being reported for chucking (for the second time in his career) during the recent one-day series in New Zealand, had confirmed that he had clocked speeds of more than 150 kilometres an hour for 12 days running. "It obviously is beyond someone who is not physically fit to bowl at such speeds consistently for 12 consecutive days. So, on the basis of that report, he was selected for the tour. By the time Akhtar, dubbed as the 'Rawalpindi Express', was asked to submit himself for pre-tour tests, he had contracted this stomach ailment, the latest in a series of physical misfortunes which have seen him appear only in three one-day matches in about a year.

In the meanwhile, the PCB has spent a fortune on his rehabilitation - according to an estimate the cumulative expenses are anywhere between UKP600,000 to 1 million. The PCB expects to cash in on this huge investment in quick time in England. It remains to be seen whether Akhtar recovers quickly enough to live up to those high expectations and that massive investment.

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