SATURDAY TRIAL FOR AKHTAR AND ASIF

Suspended Pakistan bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif may attend a preliminary hearing of their doping tribunal on Saturday.

"The preliminary hearing of the tribunal will be held on Saturday and there is a possibility that Akhtar and Asif will appear before them," Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) operations director Salim Altaf said.

Altaf also said that doping expert Waqar Ahmed, the medical director of the Pakistan Sports Board, had been appointed as the third and final member of the panel.

Barrister Shahid Hamid, who represented banned player Salim Malik during a match-fixing inquiry in 1998, will chair the tribunal while former Pakistan captain Intikhab Alam is the other member.

The tribunal is expected to take two weeks to return its findings and recommendations to the PCB, which will then take a final decision.

Akhtar and Asif were sent home from the ICC Champions Trophy in India on Monday after urine samples tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone. Their 'B' samples are yet to be examined.

Under ICC doping rules the penalty for first doping offence is a ban of two years. However, the PCB said since the tests were conducted internally they will take their own decision.