england v pakistan(fourth test)

county

england looking for a three nil series win,

currently 21 without loss

kyp_durron

England have a bit of work to do. All out for 173.

Pakistan currently 89-1.

county

a bit of work to do a mild understatment

mike65

Ah sure give them one!

Mike.

county

second day,lunch
pakisan lead by 17 with the loss of two wickets

county

i think pakistan have this one in the bag unless the great british weather has something to say

mike65

Eng 294-4 69 ovs can they force a draw.

Mike.

mike65

All very exciting! The Pakistan side have refused to come out to play after tea, England were awarded 5 runs for "ball irregularities" on the part of the tourists. The match will be awarded to England if they don't resume.

Mike.

RuggieBear

still not playing

Chucky the tree

this more interesting then the match. Going to be very interesting to see how it turns out.

KevIRL

Chaos, no seems to know whats goin on. This is gonna run and run. Pakistan seem to be in the right tho...

DMC

I don't think it will. The two boards will look for a resumption, but Hair and Doctrove have followed it to the letter of the laws, so far..... and the ICC will back them to the hilt.

But what is interesting will be the issue itself. Did the Pakistanis tamper with the ball? Since the umpires, the referee and the ICC have said nothing to the contrary YET, we can't tell.

Two wrongs don't make a right, Kev. Its the laws and spirit of cricket that are at stake here. If Hair is wrong (and there is a very good chance that he is, I think he is) where does that leave the umpires authority? The ICC have to back the umpires, otherwise, you are not going to get an umpire for a resumption in play.

county

KevIRL wrote:

Chaos, no seems to know whats goin on. This is gonna run and run. Pakistan seem to be in the right tho...

please explain lads,i have`nt seen any of the days play

county

pakistan forefit the match:eek: ,seen some of the highlights and to be fair if the umpires think there has been ball tampering i would believe them,its a shame but pakistan are known for it

Wishbone Ash

county wrote:

please explain lads,i have`nt seen any of the days play

(read from the bottom up)

FOURTH TEST, THE OVAL, DAY FOUR:
England 173 and 298-4 v Pakistan 504

Day four of the fourth Test between England and Pakistan was sensationally abandoned after a ball-tampering row.

Pakistan's initial refusal to come out after tea triggered a chaotic two hours which ended with the day's play being abandoned without another ball being bowled.

1850: All the England players have now left the ground - except, that is, for skipper Strauss. He's in a meeting in one of the Oval's committee rooms, once again with stone-faced stewards at the door.

1828: Whispers coming from the rooms that matter say that the umpires believe that Pakistan forfeited the match by not coming out. Those are only whispers, though. At this point, no-one knows whether there'll be play on Monday or not.

1816: The covers are now on. And the match could still be on too - until Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove come out of their room and spill the beans, we don't know whether they've abandoned the game or not.

1811: Announcement over the public address system: there will be no more play today.

1804: The International Cricket Council say that they will not be making any statements for the time being. What's the hurry, boys? There's only 12,000 fans sitting there wanting to know what's going on.

1801: Rumours circulate that there will definitely be no more play tonight. Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal can been seen taking off his inner gloves; the other players are on the balcony looking depressed.

1752: Still no official announcement. Yellow-jacketing stewards are ringing the outfield. The covers are still off, if anyone out there fancies a game.

1749: Complete confusion in the crowd. The spectators haven't been told a thing, as the following text message will illustrate:

1745: It's now getting pretty dark at The Oval too. If anyone does come out - which looks increasingly unlikely - play could get suspended for bad light without a ball being bowled. It's now farce o'clock, no?

1742: "We feel that there is no evidence whatsoever of deliberate scuffing of the ball. Once you accuse a team of deliberately tampering with the ball, it becomes a very big deal." Shaharyar Khan, PCB chairman

1741: More from Khan - "We felt we should make a protest, but we simply said that we would stay inside for a few minutes, and go out when the protest had been registered."

1739: Quote from PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan: "We are still hopeful that the match can start again."

1736: Surrey chief executive Paul Sheldon confirms that the umpires are refusing to come out. Match referee Mike Procter is apparently in the umpires' room, deep in talks with Hair and Doctrove.

1733: "Darrell Hair is refusing to budge. That's the impasse." Jonathan Agnew, Test Match Special

1730: Apparently a deal had been brokered between the two teams, but no-one thought to involve the umpires. The umpires apparently took the Pakistan no-show to mean that the match had been conceded.

1728: Who'll be next to refuse to carry on? Maybe I'll sack this live report off too - throw my keyboard down and return to the BBC dressing-room. Only joking - the drama is incredible. I wouldn't do that to you.

1727: They're going back in! With no sign of the umpires, the Pakistan team are returning to the pavillion. Rumours are flying around that Darrell Hair is now refusing to come out.

1726: Kevin Pietersen is taking photos of it all with his digital camera while the boos continue. At least someone's enjoying themselves.

1724: Here come the Pakistan team! They're trudging down the pavillion steps to a deafening chorus of boos from the Oval crowd. But where are the umpires?

1722: "A deal's been done - play is going to resume." Simon Mann, Test Match Special

1719: The covers are coming off. It looks like play could actually continue at some point. Still no official announcement about what's going on.

1718: Movement on the Pakistan balcony - there's a blazered official waving towards the pitch, as if to indicate that they might be coming back out. Has Morgan brokered some sort of deal here?

1716: Morgan is now sitting outside the Pakistan dressing-room, looking completely crestfallen. Pakistan team manager Zaheer Abbas is with him.

1712: There is now a huge crowd of photographers gathered on the outfield in front of the pavillion, long lenses trained on the Pakistan dressing-room. When umpires Hair and Doctrove started looking at the ball just after 1430 BST, who would have guessed this would be the result?

1711: Morgan goes into the Pakistan dressing-room.

1707: I don't think Pakistan are going to return. Akmal goes back into the dressing-room, Shoaib Akhtar leaves it. The door shuts again. David Morgan, chairman of the English Cricket Board, is in deep discussion with Shaharyar Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board. You've never seen two more serious-looking men.

1704: The crowd are utterly baffled. There's been no official announcement whatsoever, and there's a growing sense of disbelief at the ground.

1702: There is chaos at The Oval. Nobody knows what has happened. Rumours are flying around. Has the match been awarded to England because Pakistan are refusing to come out? The England players are in their training kit, standing around on their balcony looking serious.

1659: The door of the Pakistan dressing-room remains shut. What's going on? You fear that this incident is going to overshadow the entire series unless something happens soon.

1657: The England players are walking off again, as are the umpires. The umpires have taken the bails with them. Could this be the end of the match?

1654: The umpires have walked to the wicket and so have the England batsmen. But still no Pakistan team. In fact, Kamran Akmal is sitting on the balcony reading a newspaper. This one could run and run.

1651: The Pakistan dressing-room door remains resolutely shut. You can see urgent discussions going on in the match referee's office, but there's still no sign of the players.

1645: Excitement grows at the ground as the impasse develops. The minutes are ticking by, and Pakistan aren't budging from their dressing-room. The crowd have started to slow-handclap.


1643: Hold on - something's going on here. The umpires are out, the England batsmen are ready, and there's no sign of the Pakistan team. Are they going to come out?

1632: News from the middle: play will re-start at 1640 BST. The covers are off and the sky above a fraction lighter.

1620: Gloominess prevails at the wicket, and there's no re-start yet. There's dampness in the air, and it's dark dampness. The umpires are out there but the covers are on.

1545: BAD LIGHT STOPS PLAY. TEA BEING TAKEN
Time for a breather - it's a touch gloomier, and that's all these umpires need. We're off, and it's time for a sandwich.

1538: Two maidens in a row, and the pace has dropped still further. England will probably be alright with that - they're just 37 runs shy of making Pakistan bat again. Kaneria changes ends, maybe hoping for some drift in to the right-handers via the stiffening breeeze.

1532: Nazir continues and Bell drives square for another single to move on to nine. Tea approaches, and large chunks of the crowd have wandered off to the bars for an early thirst-quencher.

1524: Right - it might not be what the crowd wanted, but it's now the Bell and Collingwood show. And that means pushed singles and flicked twos, rather than the demolition derby they were enjoying earlier. Colly's on 21, Bell on three, and it's all gone quiet again.

1519: The crowd has been stunned into silence by Pietersen's dismissal. It was a great catch by Akmal, although it didn't quite make up for the easy chance he dropped when Pietersen had made only 15.

1515: WICKET Pietersen caught Akmal bowled Nazir 96
Calamity for England, joy unconfined for Pakistan. Pietersen sees a wide one from Nazir, slashes at it and watches aghast as Akmal takes a fine one-handed diving catch behind the stumps. He's missed out on his century, and England's chances of saving this Test have just been dealt a hammer blow.

1513: Shahid Nazir comes on as Inzi attempts to tame the KP tiger. The crowd fall silent - the field is up tight, and the chance is there...

1502: Asif has replaced Gul. Read into that what you will. Collingwood, possibly wearing Cook's lucky box, jabs down late on an inswinger and watches in horror as the ball bounces down behind him and misses the stumps by a bail's thickness.

1452: Pietersen plays a lovely late cut off Kaneria to move to 80, and the drinks come on. Behind the scenes, the tampering row is only just beginning...

1445: Up in the match referee's office, Mike Procter is frantically leafing through what looks like a rule-book. Woolmer has now marched off, and is back on the Pakistan dressing-room balcony, scratching another ball while talking animatedly with bowling coach Waqar Younis.

1439: It's all booting off. Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer has marched straight into the match referee's office, and he didn't look happy. Good luck Mike Procter...

Out on the pitch, Pietersen cracks the new 'old' ball off the back foot for four to move on to 73.


1434: Inzi's not happy about this - the umpires have picked up the ball and are examining it closely. They call Trevor Jesty on with the box of spare balls, and we could have a diplomatic incident here. They're changing the ball, and that can mean only one thing - the umpires think the Pakistan team have tampered with the ball.

Lordy - Inzamam's furious. To him this is tantamount to being called a cheat. A five-run penalty has been given against Pakistan, and this one's going to run and run.

county

Wishbone Ash wrote:

FOURTH TEST, THE OVAL, DAY FOUR:
England 173 and 298-4 v Pakistan 504

Day four of the fourth Test between England and Pakistan was sensationally abandoned after a ball-tampering row.

Pakistan's initial refusal to come out after tea triggered a chaotic two hours which ended with the day's play being abandoned without another ball being bowled.

1850: All the England players have now left the ground - except, that is, for skipper Strauss. He's in a meeting in one of the Oval's committee rooms, once again with stone-faced stewards at the door.

1828: Whispers coming from the rooms that matter say that the umpires believe that Pakistan forfeited the match by not coming out. Those are only whispers, though. At this point, no-one knows whether there'll be play on Monday or not.

1816: The covers are now on. And the match could still be on too - until Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove come out of their room and spill the beans, we don't know whether they've abandoned the game or not.

1811: Announcement over the public address system: there will be no more play today.

1804: The International Cricket Council say that they will not be making any statements for the time being. What's the hurry, boys? There's only 12,000 fans sitting there wanting to know what's going on.

1801: Rumours circulate that there will definitely be no more play tonight. Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal can been seen taking off his inner gloves; the other players are on the balcony looking depressed.

1752: Still no official announcement. Yellow-jacketing stewards are ringing the outfield. The covers are still off, if anyone out there fancies a game.

1749: Complete confusion in the crowd. The spectators haven't been told a thing, as the following text message will illustrate:

1745: It's now getting pretty dark at The Oval too. If anyone does come out - which looks increasingly unlikely - play could get suspended for bad light without a ball being bowled. It's now farce o'clock, no?

1742: "We feel that there is no evidence whatsoever of deliberate scuffing of the ball. Once you accuse a team of deliberately tampering with the ball, it becomes a very big deal." Shaharyar Khan, PCB chairman

1741: More from Khan - "We felt we should make a protest, but we simply said that we would stay inside for a few minutes, and go out when the protest had been registered."

1739: Quote from PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan: "We are still hopeful that the match can start again."

1736: Surrey chief executive Paul Sheldon confirms that the umpires are refusing to come out. Match referee Mike Procter is apparently in the umpires' room, deep in talks with Hair and Doctrove.

1733: "Darrell Hair is refusing to budge. That's the impasse." Jonathan Agnew, Test Match Special

1730: Apparently a deal had been brokered between the two teams, but no-one thought to involve the umpires. The umpires apparently took the Pakistan no-show to mean that the match had been conceded.

1728: Who'll be next to refuse to carry on? Maybe I'll sack this live report off too - throw my keyboard down and return to the BBC dressing-room. Only joking - the drama is incredible. I wouldn't do that to you.

1727: They're going back in! With no sign of the umpires, the Pakistan team are returning to the pavillion. Rumours are flying around that Darrell Hair is now refusing to come out.

1726: Kevin Pietersen is taking photos of it all with his digital camera while the boos continue. At least someone's enjoying themselves.

1724: Here come the Pakistan team! They're trudging down the pavillion steps to a deafening chorus of boos from the Oval crowd. But where are the umpires?

1722: "A deal's been done - play is going to resume." Simon Mann, Test Match Special

1719: The covers are coming off. It looks like play could actually continue at some point. Still no official announcement about what's going on.

1718: Movement on the Pakistan balcony - there's a blazered official waving towards the pitch, as if to indicate that they might be coming back out. Has Morgan brokered some sort of deal here?

1716: Morgan is now sitting outside the Pakistan dressing-room, looking completely crestfallen. Pakistan team manager Zaheer Abbas is with him.

1712: There is now a huge crowd of photographers gathered on the outfield in front of the pavillion, long lenses trained on the Pakistan dressing-room. When umpires Hair and Doctrove started looking at the ball just after 1430 BST, who would have guessed this would be the result?

1711: Morgan goes into the Pakistan dressing-room.

1707: I don't think Pakistan are going to return. Akmal goes back into the dressing-room, Shoaib Akhtar leaves it. The door shuts again. David Morgan, chairman of the English Cricket Board, is in deep discussion with Shaharyar Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board. You've never seen two more serious-looking men.

1704: The crowd are utterly baffled. There's been no official announcement whatsoever, and there's a growing sense of disbelief at the ground.

1702: There is chaos at The Oval. Nobody knows what has happened. Rumours are flying around. Has the match been awarded to England because Pakistan are refusing to come out? The England players are in their training kit, standing around on their balcony looking serious.

1659: The door of the Pakistan dressing-room remains shut. What's going on? You fear that this incident is going to overshadow the entire series unless something happens soon.

1657: The England players are walking off again, as are the umpires. The umpires have taken the bails with them. Could this be the end of the match?

1654: The umpires have walked to the wicket and so have the England batsmen. But still no Pakistan team. In fact, Kamran Akmal is sitting on the balcony reading a newspaper. This one could run and run.

1651: The Pakistan dressing-room door remains resolutely shut. You can see urgent discussions going on in the match referee's office, but there's still no sign of the players.

1645: Excitement grows at the ground as the impasse develops. The minutes are ticking by, and Pakistan aren't budging from their dressing-room. The crowd have started to slow-handclap.


1643: Hold on - something's going on here. The umpires are out, the England batsmen are ready, and there's no sign of the Pakistan team. Are they going to come out?

1632: News from the middle: play will re-start at 1640 BST. The covers are off and the sky above a fraction lighter.

1620: Gloominess prevails at the wicket, and there's no re-start yet. There's dampness in the air, and it's dark dampness. The umpires are out there but the covers are on.

1545: BAD LIGHT STOPS PLAY. TEA BEING TAKEN
Time for a breather - it's a touch gloomier, and that's all these umpires need. We're off, and it's time for a sandwich.

1538: Two maidens in a row, and the pace has dropped still further. England will probably be alright with that - they're just 37 runs shy of making Pakistan bat again. Kaneria changes ends, maybe hoping for some drift in to the right-handers via the stiffening breeeze.

1532: Nazir continues and Bell drives square for another single to move on to nine. Tea approaches, and large chunks of the crowd have wandered off to the bars for an early thirst-quencher.

1524: Right - it might not be what the crowd wanted, but it's now the Bell and Collingwood show. And that means pushed singles and flicked twos, rather than the demolition derby they were enjoying earlier. Colly's on 21, Bell on three, and it's all gone quiet again.

1519: The crowd has been stunned into silence by Pietersen's dismissal. It was a great catch by Akmal, although it didn't quite make up for the easy chance he dropped when Pietersen had made only 15.

1515: WICKET Pietersen caught Akmal bowled Nazir 96
Calamity for England, joy unconfined for Pakistan. Pietersen sees a wide one from Nazir, slashes at it and watches aghast as Akmal takes a fine one-handed diving catch behind the stumps. He's missed out on his century, and England's chances of saving this Test have just been dealt a hammer blow.

1513: Shahid Nazir comes on as Inzi attempts to tame the KP tiger. The crowd fall silent - the field is up tight, and the chance is there...

1502: Asif has replaced Gul. Read into that what you will. Collingwood, possibly wearing Cook's lucky box, jabs down late on an inswinger and watches in horror as the ball bounces down behind him and misses the stumps by a bail's thickness.

1452: Pietersen plays a lovely late cut off Kaneria to move to 80, and the drinks come on. Behind the scenes, the tampering row is only just beginning...

1445: Up in the match referee's office, Mike Procter is frantically leafing through what looks like a rule-book. Woolmer has now marched off, and is back on the Pakistan dressing-room balcony, scratching another ball while talking animatedly with bowling coach Waqar Younis.

1439: It's all booting off. Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer has marched straight into the match referee's office, and he didn't look happy. Good luck Mike Procter...

Out on the pitch, Pietersen cracks the new 'old' ball off the back foot for four to move on to 73.


1434: Inzi's not happy about this - the umpires have picked up the ball and are examining it closely. They call Trevor Jesty on with the box of spare balls, and we could have a diplomatic incident here. They're changing the ball, and that can mean only one thing - the umpires think the Pakistan team have tampered with the ball.

Lordy - Inzamam's furious. To him this is tantamount to being called a cheat. A five-run penalty has been given against Pakistan, and this one's going to run and run.

thanks for that,in my own opinion it would`nt suprise me if they did tamper with the ball,a pretty poor show if they did

Chucky the tree

county wrote:

pakistan forefit the match:eek: ,seen some of the highlights and to be fair if the umpires think there has been ball tampering i would believe them,its a shame but pakistan are known for it

When else did they do it?


Hair better hope there is some video evidence to back the ball tampering theory up. If he doesnt, this could turn out to be huge.

I am not suprised by Pakistians reaction, and i cant blame them for it either. I would expect to do the same myself.

county

http://www.sportinglife.com/cricket/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=cricket/06/08/20/CRICKET_Ball_tampering.html

Wishbone Ash

Chucky the tree wrote:

I am not suprised by Pakistians reaction, and i cant blame them for it either. I would expect to do the same myself.

Their actions, (IMO), were not that of a side which is protesting it's innocence. If anything, it adds credibility to the allegations being made.

Chucky the tree

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Their actions, (IMO), were not that of a side which is protesting it's innocence. If anything, it adds credibility to the allegations being made.

How excactly?

DMC

I'd say Wishbone Ash is referring to the previous experiences between Hair and Pakistan.

BTW, just looking at it all again, I've changed my opinion. I think Hair is in the right. He's done everything by the book. Just a thought... if it was Billy Doctrove who spotted it, would Pakistan harrumph so much?

But Hair won't stand in a test again.

DMC

Sky News just leading with England have won the test following Pakistan's forfeiture, and win the series 3-0.

Betcha this test won't last long in the record books...

county

i`m sure this will run and run

DMC

Statement by David Collier, ECB CEO, on behalf of ICC, ECB and PCB...

Statement on behalf of International Cricket Council, England & Wales Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket Board

After lengthy negotiations which resulted in agreement between the teams, the ICC match referee and both ECB and PCB to seek to resume the fourth npower Test match on Monday, it was concluded with regret that there will be no play on the fifth day. The fourth npower Test match between England and Pakistan has therefore been forfeited with the match being awarded to England.

In accordance with the laws of cricket it was noted that the umpires had correctly deemed that Pakistan had forfeited the match and awarded the Test to England.

At a meeting between the captains, ECB, PCB and match referee, the players, ICC match referee and boards indicated that they would offer to resume play if at all possible on day five.

The umpires having awarded the match to England and having consulted with the Pakistan captain reconfirmed their decision to award the match to England.

The Pakistan team was aggrieved by the award of five penalty runs to England. The award of those penalty runs for alleged interference with the ball is under review by the ICC match referee Mike Procter, whose report will be considered in due course.

ICC will be issuing a separate report concerning action which may be taken in relation to the forfeiture of the match by Pakistan.

ECB Chief Executove David Collier said: "The ECB expresses great regret that the actions taken resulted in spectators, television viewers and radio listeners being deprived of play.

In light of the reduction of play on day four ECB has determined that all spectators who purchased tickets should be eligible to a 40 percent refund on their fourth day ticket and a full refund will be paid to all spectators who purchased tickets for day five."

TrueDub

As far as I see it, the Pakistanis only have themselves to blame.

If they didn't tamper with the ball, and I suspect they did, the proper approach for an appeal is to approach the match referee at the close of play. This nonsense of staying in the dressing-room was more like a gang of petulant schoolchildren than anything else.

The umpires have acted in accordance with the laws all the way, and it's now up to the ICC to back them up fully. If they don't, there's a huge problem just waiting to happen in test cricket.

The fact that it's Darrell Hair again should make no difference whatsoever. OK, he has clashed with the sub-continental teams on more than one occasion, but he's been enforcing the laws, which is his job.

No team, from any part of the world, is above the game and it's laws.

Wishbone Ash

TrueDub wrote:

The fact that it's Darrell Hair again should make no difference whatsoever

It was probably inappropriate for the ICC to assign Hair to this Test in the first place. Are the umpires drawn at random from the pool? In saying that, Hair has nothing to gain by highlighting the possible tampering but he could be a little more diplomatic even if he was acting entirely within the laws.

TrueDub

Wishbone Ash wrote:

It was probably inappropriate for the ICC to assign Hair to this Test in the first place. Are the umpires drawn at random from the pool? In saying that, Hair has nothing to gain by highlighting the possible tampering but he could be a little more diplomatic even if he was acting entirely within the laws.

I would agree that diplomacy might not be his strong point. He seems to be quite high-handed when dealing with people, and maybe this didn't help.

However, you can't go appointing umpires on the basis of whether one team or the other "doesn't get on with" that umpire. The Elite Panel is meant to be just that, the best umpires in the world. Teams cannot pick & choose which umpires they want. Therefore, it was totally appropriate for the ICC to assign Hair to the test series.

My main point is that there are standard procedures for registering a protest, and Pakistan ignored them. Everything else appears to have been done according to the rule book.

DMC

Hair's personality comes into this, but I for one, applaud him for that. He doesn't engage or self-promote himself when he's on the field of play. He sees the role as the arbiter of the game. He doesnt let others influence him.

He's not chatty (Dickie Bird), he's not an extrovert (Billy Bowden), he doesn't have mannerisms (David Shepard on 111, Rudi Koertzen's slow finger of death) he's dead-pan, and as his elite panel collegue Simon Taufel commented, he knows the laws inside out. Everyone in commentary was scurrying around trying to find the relevent laws and playing conditions, but he was on top of his game.

Wishbone Ash

TrueDub wrote:

I would agree that diplomacy might not be his strong point. He seems to be quite high-handed when dealing with people, and maybe this didn't help.

However, you can't go appointing umpires on the basis of whether one team or the other "doesn't get on with" that umpire. The Elite Panel is meant to be just that, the best umpires in the world. Teams cannot pick & choose which umpires they want. Therefore, it was totally appropriate for the ICC to assign Hair to the test series.

My main point is that there are standard procedures for registering a protest, and Pakistan ignored them. Everything else appears to have been done according to the rule book.

Well said TrueDub - point taken re appointment of umpires.

Memnoch

I think it's wierd how everyone seems to think that accussing someone of cheating is somehow part of the rule book.

If one or several of the pakistani's tampered with the ball or did something dodgy then they should have pointed out who and how. They didn't seem to do that but just made an accusation based on the "condition of the ball."

That is highly circumstantial at best and slander at worst. Imagine being CONVICTED of cheating without any concrete evidence. Basically that is what the umpires did when they fine pakistan a few runs and changed the ball. Because it signifies that the pakistani team had "obviously" cheated. If you're going to take a view like that you need to have a lot stronger evidence than has been presented thus far.

The pakistani team did not react in the best possible way but obviously being labelled as cheaters without proof is likely to get even the most rational of players riled up.

DMC

So... today we found out that Inzy is off the hook with the ball tampering, but he gets a ban from 4 ODI's for the disrepute charge. In other news, Hair will not stand in the Champions Trophy.

Hair was very bullish in the press conference afterwards. He's not a happy man, but he realises he's in the long grass until March.... then we might well see a book....

Even though it was sorted for all sides today... the whole business still leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Onwards and upwards for the sport we love.

RuggieBear

all poxy politics....everyone is tainted

county

DMC wrote:

Onwards and upwards for the sport we love.

very true,cant wait for the ashes now

mike65

Classic 'compromise' should have seen it coming.

Mike.

TrueDub

A typical ICC fudge, leaving everyone slightly tainted and nobody totally satisfied. Will we see a rule change on the ball-tampering area? I hope so, but I doubt it. It doesn't help that the ICC doesn't control the laws either.

Still, lots to look forward to soon - the Champions Trophy (a made-for-tv money-making cynical exercise, I know, but beggars can't be choosers!), then the Ashes, then the World Cup.

county

as if pakistan didnt need more bad press
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/other_international/pakistan/5391474.stm

Royale with Cheese

county wrote:

as if pakistan didnt need more bad press
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/other_international/pakistan/5391474.stm

Smart move that by Younis. What the hell is going on behind the scenes there? There's got to be more to it than not wanting to be a 'dummy captain'