Salman Butt has been named Pakistan's new Test captain for the Headingley test and also for the remaining 4 Test matches against England after Shahid Afridi ruled himself out for the Headingley game citing a side strain.
"I worked out in the gym in the morning and I don't feel comfortable at all and I will not play the next Test," Afridi said.
Kamran Akmal will be the new vice captain while the move to bring back old war-horses - Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf - was also discussed in a team meeting, but a decision on them was postponed to a later time.
"We did discuss both Yousuf and Younis in the meeting but we decided to defer the matter," Butt said, acknowledging also that the option to call them up at some point during the summer remains open. "I think we should appreciate that both the youngsters Azhar Ali and Umar Amin did very well given it was their debuts and my own feeling is that they should be persisted with," he added.
A meeting was convened by Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman on Saturday evening after Afridi's sudden decision to retire. The meeting was attended by the team manager Yawar Saeed, coach Waqar Younis, associate manager Shafqat Rana, Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Umar Gul.
This move was expected after Afridi's sudden and perplexing decision to retire from Tests minutes after losing the opening match at Lord's to Australia. Afridi, who had just returned to the longer format of the game after a gap of 4 years played two irresponsible shots to get out and blamed his lack of temperament as the reason for him not continuing in the test side.
"With my temperament I can't play Test cricket," Afridi said. "It is better a youngster comes in my place, probably a genuine batsman or even a genuine bowler. I picked up a side injury during the Asia Cup and unless you are 100 percent fit you can't perform in Test cricket.
"I wasn't interested in playing Test cricket but the board asked me to go and take a look as they didn't have a choice. So I took up the responsibility. They asked me to take a chance and may be I would enjoy it. But I wasn't really enjoying Test cricket but I tried. I wasn't good enough. A captain should lead by example which I did not. And if I played the way I played in this match it is better to leave."
Afridi also admitted that he had played a bad shot in the 2nd innings of the game when a bit more caution was required. "You are right," he said. "I am coming back to Test cricket after four years and in the interim I'd played a lot of ODI and Twenty20 cricket so I came in with the same [attacking] temperament. I was in two minds. You can say I was not strong mentally."
Afridi had wanted Salman Butt, to take over the reigns of the captaincy after he had resigned yesterday. "Salman is the vice captain and he should ideally be the man," Afridi added. "The way he has shown the maturity he is good enough to carry forward the responsibility."
Salman Butt will be Pakistan's fifth Test skipper since the start of 2009. Butt, who was vice-captain to Afridi in the first Test against Australia, has scored 1703 runs in 28 Tests at an average of 32.75 with three hundreds and 10 fifties.
The 25-year-old left-handed opener was Pakistan's top-scorer in both innings at Lord's with innings of 63 and 92.
"I worked out in the gym in the morning and I don't feel comfortable at all and I will not play the next Test," Afridi said.
Kamran Akmal will be the new vice captain while the move to bring back old war-horses - Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf - was also discussed in a team meeting, but a decision on them was postponed to a later time.
"We did discuss both Yousuf and Younis in the meeting but we decided to defer the matter," Butt said, acknowledging also that the option to call them up at some point during the summer remains open. "I think we should appreciate that both the youngsters Azhar Ali and Umar Amin did very well given it was their debuts and my own feeling is that they should be persisted with," he added.
A meeting was convened by Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman on Saturday evening after Afridi's sudden decision to retire. The meeting was attended by the team manager Yawar Saeed, coach Waqar Younis, associate manager Shafqat Rana, Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Umar Gul.
This move was expected after Afridi's sudden and perplexing decision to retire from Tests minutes after losing the opening match at Lord's to Australia. Afridi, who had just returned to the longer format of the game after a gap of 4 years played two irresponsible shots to get out and blamed his lack of temperament as the reason for him not continuing in the test side.
"With my temperament I can't play Test cricket," Afridi said. "It is better a youngster comes in my place, probably a genuine batsman or even a genuine bowler. I picked up a side injury during the Asia Cup and unless you are 100 percent fit you can't perform in Test cricket.
"I wasn't interested in playing Test cricket but the board asked me to go and take a look as they didn't have a choice. So I took up the responsibility. They asked me to take a chance and may be I would enjoy it. But I wasn't really enjoying Test cricket but I tried. I wasn't good enough. A captain should lead by example which I did not. And if I played the way I played in this match it is better to leave."
Afridi also admitted that he had played a bad shot in the 2nd innings of the game when a bit more caution was required. "You are right," he said. "I am coming back to Test cricket after four years and in the interim I'd played a lot of ODI and Twenty20 cricket so I came in with the same [attacking] temperament. I was in two minds. You can say I was not strong mentally."
Afridi had wanted Salman Butt, to take over the reigns of the captaincy after he had resigned yesterday. "Salman is the vice captain and he should ideally be the man," Afridi added. "The way he has shown the maturity he is good enough to carry forward the responsibility."
Salman Butt will be Pakistan's fifth Test skipper since the start of 2009. Butt, who was vice-captain to Afridi in the first Test against Australia, has scored 1703 runs in 28 Tests at an average of 32.75 with three hundreds and 10 fifties.
The 25-year-old left-handed opener was Pakistan's top-scorer in both innings at Lord's with innings of 63 and 92.
© CB, ~ Photo courtesy: Getty Images
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