Hameed sets sights on comeback

Yasir Hameed, the Pakistan batsman, has set his sights on a return to the national team after serving his ban from domestic cricket last season. Hameed, 33, was banned by the PCB earlier this year for for his interview with an undercover reporter from News of the World in the immediate aftermath of the spot-fixing controversy last year.

Last month, Hameed won a partial victory in his battle with the tabloid, which published its final issue on Sunday, getting it to remove the video and story of him discussing the Lord's spot-fixing scandal as well as an approach by a bookie in 2004.

"The board's disciplinary committee had fined me Rs 300,000 and banned me for the second half of the last domestic season," Hameed was quoted as saying in the Pakistan Tribune. "I have paid the fine and also served my ban."

Hameed has played 25 Tests and 56 one-dayers but hasn't represented Pakistan since that Lord's Test. "I now just want to focus on my cricket again and I have started training hard," he said. "I am 33 and I feel I can still give a lot to the team.

"There are now several players in the national team who are over 30 and they are performing well which has encouraged me to not give up hope of playing for Pakistan again." Nearly half the Pakistan line-up in their most recent Test, against West Indies in May, was over 30 years old.

Hameed's immediate target was hitting form in the upcoming domestic season. "I will try to win back the confidence of selectors and board with my performances because that is what matters," he said.