Akhtar for domestic cricket

Pakistan cricket authorities said Tuesday that controversial paceman Shoaib Akhtar can play in a domestic cricket tournament just one week after barring him from the same event.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said Akhtar can play in a Twenty20 event without paying a 90,000-dollar fine that he owes from an earlier disciplinary breach, contradicting an earlier statement from a PCB legal adviser. The 33-year-old paceman was banned for five years in April for criticising the PCB's failure to award him a central contract. It was later reduced by an appeals commission to 18 months but the commission also imposed the fine.

Lahore High court suspended the ban in July but upheld the fine. "We never barred him from playing the domestic event," PCB chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi told AFP.

Akhtar was not initially included in any of the 13 teams due to compete for the national T20 title from October 4-8. KARACHI, Tuesday AFP