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Former captain Wasim Akram Monday said he was relieved and relaxed to know that New Zealand have 'temporarily' cancelled their six-week tour to Pakistan.

The celebrated allrounder, speaking from Lahore over telephone, said he backed New Zealand's decision because the scenario of Pakistan players was not much different from the Black Caps.

"I have talked to the boys and to me they are not mentally focussed on cricket. They are more concerned about the security of the country and situation arising in the aftermath of last week's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington," Wasim said.

The Black Caps returned from Singapore last week with New Zealand Cricket maintaining that it would consider a shortened tour in October if situation was conducive. But the hopes of a brief tour ended Tuesday when the International Cricket Council (ICC) shifted October's executive board meeting from Lahore to Kuala Lumpur.

Wasim said the concentration of the boys had been distracted which would have hampered their performance and the team's if the Test and one-day series had gone ahead.

"We couldn't afford to go into the Test series distracted," he said with reference to Pakistan's four successive home series defeats to Zimbabwe, Australia, Sri Lanka and England in the last two years.

The three-time former captain, who has 414 Test and 440 one-day wickets, added that he led the team to India in 1999 in more dangerous and hair-raising circumstances "because the government told us. And I think the government will not advice us wrong."

Wasim admitted that the cancellation was a bitter blow to his ambitions of putting his cricket back on track.

"Naturally I am disappointed because I was determined to make amends for a lacklustre recent performances. I am in the twilight of my career and need to play in all the games to edge closer to Kapil Dev's 434 Test wickets," said the 35-year-old left-armer.

Wasim has been under tremendous pressure in the recent past. He was included as 17th member for the England tour. He then went wicketless in the Asian Test Championship match against Bangladesh. But his inclusion for the Multan Test was again under controversial circumstances as he had been initially overlooked from the 27 probables who had been invited to a training camp.

"I am not reviewing my career. I have decided to go by the flow and see how things shape up. I am still keen and geared up because I feel a lot of cricket is still left in me," Wasim, who has taken just seven wickets in his last five Tests, remarked.

Wasim said he would play in the Patron's Trophy first-class competition starting Sept 21. But he refused to accept that the four- dayers would now be the test of his endurance, fitness, form and stamina.

"I don't think that they will be my trial games. They are first-class matches in which everyone would try to excel and contribute in his team's success.

"There will be an element of competition between the teams and maybe amongst the star players. Of course, the pressure will be less as compared to international cricket but the bottomline is that we are professionals and are supposed to perform against any opposition whether it be a first-class match or international game."

Wasim opined that the first-class competition would be more competitive this time and hoped that a few more talented players would be unearthed.

"I think it is a blessing in disguise for Pakistan cricket that all the senior Test team players will be appearing in the Patron's Trophy which will help to pick some more potentially talented players," he said.

He agreed that the cancellation of the New Zealand series would deny young boys like Taufiq Umer, Faisal Iqbal and Danish Kaneria earn international exposure which was crucial considering a back-breaking next year's assignment that lead-up to the World Cup in South Africa.

"It's sad that they will not be playing pressure cricket. But then in the Patron's Trophy, they will be playing plenty of games in which they will need to perform in different circumstances. It's also a learning process," he said.

In 2002, Pakistan are to play two Tests against Bangladesh, host the West Indies for three Tests, complete the two Asian Test Championship matches against Sri Lanka, host Australia for three Tests, tour South Africa (three Tests) and Zimbabwe (two Tests) before appearing in the World Cup in February-March 2003.

© Dawn