Shoaib takes case to High Court

Shoaib Akhtar continues to fight his ban © Getty Images

Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar has filed an appeal to the Lahore High Court in a bid to overturn his 18-month ban.

The Pakistan Cricket Board imposed a five-year suspension on the bowler due to disciplinary reasons in April, but this was reduced to 18 months earlier this month by a three-member tribunal which also fined the player seven million rupees.

The 32-year-old said: "I want to play for my country again. I hope to see the ban overturned."

The original five-year ban was imposed after Shoaib publicly criticised the PCB's allocation of central contracts to players earlier this year. Shoaib's own contract had been downgraded.

Shoaib was already on two years' probation for hitting fellow paceman Mohammad Asif in a dressing-room altercation just before the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa.