Shoaib refuses to shorten his run-up

Shoaib Akhtar has refused to shorten his bowling run-up, a suggestion put forth by Bob Woolmer, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain. Shoaib compared himself to a jet plane gathering speed on a runway and said he would not compromise on his 40-yard run-up.

Woolmer was concerned about Pakistan's sluggish over-rates in the first Test at Perth, where they were humbled by a massive 491-run margin, and pinpointed that as one of several areas that needed to be rectified ahead of the Boxing Day Test. Woolmer had termed the over-rate "ridiculous and very poor". Shoaib, though, whistled a different tune and told the Sydney Morning Herald: "We're going to go through our overs quickly. We talked about it. I'm not going to change, but I'm going to go back to my run-up quickly.

"I'll ask you a question. Can a plane take off without a run-up? No, so I've got to take the run," he said. "It's how I generate my pace and everything flows into the right action. I'm not going to cut down."

Imran had spoken to Shoaib in Kolkata recently, where Pakistan played India in the BCCI's Platinum Jubilee game. "I used to bowl all day at his age," said Imran. "He sprints such a long way that he could easily cut it down without losing any pace, but he would have more stamina."