Misbah replaces Pomersbach in CPL

Castries (St. Lucia), July 26 (IANS/CMC)

Misbah-ul-Haq will replace Luke Pomersbach

Pakistan’s Test and One-Day International (ODI) captain Misbah-ul-Haq will replace Luke Pomersbach of Australia in the St. Lucia Zouks team for the inaugural Caribbean Premier League (LCPL) T20 tournament which begins next week.

Pomersbach has been forced to pull out of the tournament on compassionate leave.

Misbah, who has been captaining Pakistan’s ODI side against the West Indies in the Caribbean, will immediately link up with the Zouks squad ahead of the side’s first match – the tournament opener – against the Barbados Tridents at Kensington Oval on Tuesday.

“Although it is unfortunate that Luke Pomersbach will not be joining us, we have a high-quality replacement in Misbah-ul-Haq,” said St Lucia Zouks assistant coach Matthew Maynard.

“He brings with him a vast amount of experience of international cricket, something that will only be of benefit to our younger players, and his latest Twenty20 performance speaks for itself.”

Misbah’s latest Twenty20 action saw him lead the Faisalabad Wolves to victory in Pakistan’s Super Eight T-20 Cup in March and he scored 189 runs at an average of 37.20 during the tournament.

He has been in excellent form and was awarded man of the recent ODI series against the West Indies where his innings often turned the tide in favour of Pakistan.

Misbah joins a squad with experienced West Indies international players like Darren Sammy and Tino Best, as well as exciting young talents like Andre Fletcher, Nelon Pascal and Dalton Polius and high-quality overseas players Herschelle Gibbs, Albie Morkel and Tamim Iqbal.

The inaugural Caribbean Premier League starts on July 30 in Barbados and concludes on August 24 in Trinidad.