Pakistan Asking for Evidence on Fixing Allegation

The Pakistan players at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal could be allowed to appear in the Twenty20 internationals against England after Ijaz Butt, the country's cricket board chairman, insisted none of them would be suspended until police found some hard evidence of corruption.

Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, the three players implicated in the News of the World sting into an alleged betting syndicate during the last Test, arrived with the squad in Taunton yesterday ahead of Sunday's match.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has been under mounting pressure to leave out the trio with both English and Pakistani law enforcement agencies now investigating the affair.

Talks yesterday between the International Cricket Council, the England and Wales Cricket Board and the PCB yielded the agreement that any player found guilty should be thrown out of the sport for life, with the ECB privately adament that the trio should at the very least be omitted from the series.

However, Butt told CricInfo that this would not be the case unless investigators revealed some substantial proof of corruption. "There is a case going on over here with Scotland Yard," Ijaz said. "This is only an allegation. There is still no charge or proof on that account. So at this stage there will be no action taken."

The News of the World allegations against the tourists are wide-reaching – starting with suggestions of "spot-fixing" no-balls in the fourth Test against England at Lord's and going as far as citing fixed matches in the past and looking ahead to the one-day series.

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, insisted the sport's governing body would come down hard on anyone found guilty of cheating and said he hoped a deal could be brokered between the ECB and PCB before the weekend.

"We are working hard. We realise the [Twenty20] game starts on Sunday. We're busy with the Metropolitan Police and hopefully before the weekend arrives we can get to some sort of a conclusion. But it's an individual's right that you're innocent until proven guilty.

"We were ensuring among all of us that we want to see the same outcome and same objectives. And that is for anyone found guilty of corruption to be taken out of the sport. We have got that commitment from all the parties."

He conceded: "I think the reputation of the game has been tarnished and it's something we must make right. There's no question people's confidence would have been swayed. But we must ensure the vast majority of players who play the game well are provided with that opportunity and the spectators would respect those players."

Mazhar Majeed, a known associate of the Pakistan team, was arrested and then bailed without charge yesterday as part of a Scotland Yard investigation, while Butt, Asif and Amir had their mobile phones confiscated.

A three-man team from Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency – the country's highest law enforcement agency – has also been sent to England. Interior minister Rehman Malik said the investigators would help Scotland Yard but also investigate the allegations independently.

Pakistan's prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who launched the FIA investigation, said: "The latest fixing allegations have bowed our heads in shame. I have ordered a thorough inquiry into these allegations so that action could be taken against those who are proven guilty."

Somerset are fully expecting Thursday's friendly fixture to take place, and county chief executive Richard Gould promised the visiting side a "warm welcome", although condemnation over the scandal continued to pour in.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan told BBC Radio Five Live: "If they are proven guilty – any player – my belief is they should be banned for life."

British media demanded for suspend Pakistan from cricket

The 'spot-fixing' scandal involving Pakistani cricketers threatens the very existence of the sport, according to the British media which on Monday called for Pakistan's suspension from international cricket and life bans on the guilty players.

Britain's newspapers said cricket's reputation has been mired by this incident and Pakistan should be suspended from cricket by the ICC to restore the image of the game.

"There can be zero tolerance for cheats, even if their dishonesty is genuinely limited to bowling a no-ball to order," The Sun wrote in its editorial.

"Pakistan must be suspended from cricket, which sadly means scrapping the forthcoming one-day series. The shadow of corruption has hung over Pakistani cricket for 15 years. This scandal must be the last," it said.

The Daily Mail termed the scandal as the worst ever scam to hit cricket and called the International Cricket Council to impose a life ban on the players if found guilty.

"Such a purge would be tremendously painful in the short term but it is the only way integrity and belief can be restored," it said.

The Daily Mirror said even though it is disappointing for the cricket lovers to see the sport plagued by scams, there is also a need to educate the young cricketers to help them resist such temptations.

"Money in one form or another sometimes seems to be taking over every aspect of sport.

"More must be done to help players and athletes, who are often very young, resist temptation and stand up to blackmail or intimidation.

"We also need to recapture the spirit of fair play that seems to have been driven out by soaring profits," it wrote.

The Guardian felt cheating in cricket thrives in many forms and it is high time the ICC sets its house in order.

"Cricket cheating thrives in many forms: charges of match-fixing and betting coups coexist with a culture of ball-tampering, sledging, time-wasting and refusal to accept umpires' decisions," it said.

"Cricket must put its house in order fast. Nothing undermines the credibility of any sport more than the suspicion that what you are watching is in fact a fix."

'The Times' said the allegations were a bitter blow to Pakistanis and urged the cricketing world not to isolate "a troubled nation".

"These are dark days for cricket, for professional sport, and for Pakistan," it said.

"In a time when Pakistan is balanced on an existential knife-edge, cricket represents liberalism rather than extremism; international engagement rather than isolation; the celebration of graceful civilisation rather than the cold nihilism of tribal and religious strife.

"Sport may only be sport, but in Pakistan cricket provides a vital bridge of engagement and mutual respect with the wider world.

"The worst thing that could happen now would be for the rest of the world to give up on Pakistan, in cricket, or in anything else."

The Independent also felt the mis-governance of Pakistan cricket, which doesn't have any inspirational figure, is also responsible for the dwindling status of cricket in the volatile nation.

"This is more than the age-old tale of youth corrupted and disorientated by bright lights and luxury," it said.

"Misgoverned for decades, Pakistan has a political class that contains few people whom anyone seriously looks up to for moral inspiration -- hence, in part, the almost fanatical devotion to a sport that supposedly incarnates the ideal of fair play.

"The people of Pakistan deserve better than to have it rubbed in their faces that this is not the case."

The Daily Telegraph said though the incident seems to have tarnished the image of Pakistan but the allegations has in fact affected the integrity of the whole sport.

"Many will see it as a mirror image of the political corruption that is endemic to that country," it said, calling for anyone involved to be punished.

"Only then can a start be made to remove the stain on cricket's reputation," the paper said.

A KISS OF BETRAYAL

WHEN Mohammad Amir took his fifth wicket at Lord's on Friday, he dropped to his knees and kissed the most hallowed turf in cricket.

The most hallowed turf in sport, perhaps. It was a kiss of BETRAYAL. A betrayal of the sport's soul by a young man corrupted by greed.

A betrayal of a troubled nation beset by problems, grappling with the harrowing effects of a natural tragedy.

Think that is an exaggeration? Think again. In a time of human devastation, cricket was an escape for the people of Pakistan. While their performances were strangely inconsistent - maybe we now know why - there were moments when the spirit of this team was admired back home and in England, their ups and downs in this series a reflection of the turbulent times four thousand miles away.

It turns out that spirit can be bought, those ups and downs conducted by high-rolling gamblers.

And to think we gave this team house room when security fears robbed their nation of hosting the sport they love with an unrivalled passion.

While the world unites to gather millions of pounds in support of the relief effort, while those whose lives were washed away by floods scramble to save the last material vestiges of their existence, their cricketers - icons of society, shafts of light in dark times - try to make a fast buck out of a noble game.

In the process, they have brought shame on a sport once the epitome of honour. The actions of these few have stained cricket for ever.

How long before we can again watch a Pakistani cricket team and believe? Believe the myriad dropped catches are down to human error rather than human avarice? Believe that astonishing comebacks such as the one pulled off by Australia in Sydney earlier this year are part of cricket's tapestry of miracles rather than stone-cold scams?

Think also of the collateral damage. Every wicket taken against Pakistan by striving Englishmen, every run scored, every victory achieved, is meaningless. When Stuart Broad clipped a shot through midwicket on Friday afternoon, it was the moment of his young life.

A century - his first in Test cricket, his first in professional cricket - at the home of the game.

Scoring at Wembley, holing a winning putt at St Andrews, serving out for the title at Wimbledon. It was up there with them.

Now, it means nothing.

But this is not just about crushing our belief in the integrity of cricket. They have not just betrayed the game's soul, they have betrayed sport. Full stop. They have poisoned the very essence of it.

It is another - and, by far the most damning - piece of evidence that cheating is now endemic in top-level sport.

One of the news paper listened to John Higgins boast how he could rig a snooker match for a few grand. Match-fixing allegations swirl around the lesser leagues of European football.

Crashgate and Bloodgate might not have been at the behest of illegal gambling syndicates or bent bookies but they drip- drip into the public consciousness.

When players cheat in any sport, they besmirch their fellow sportsmen around the world.

If we watch a crucial putt missed, we might just wonder. An own goal in the dying seconds of a game or a dart landing the wrong side of victory? Hhhmm.

Genuine slings and arrows of sporting misfortune... or despicable acts perpetrated by people having their strings pulled by gambling puppeteers?

Betting in sport is a juggernaut that cannot be halted. It will always bring with it crime and corruption.

The thing that sporting authorities can do is ban offenders for life. The News of the World has pursued them, sporting authorities should do likewise. And when caught, no pussy- footing around, no two-year suspension slaps on wrists.

The multitudes around the world who love sport have got to be able to believe in its integrity.

Fixing games destroys the fundamental principle of sport. Those guilty of it should be banned for life.

Bookies earned 150 Crores from Pak tour of England

Pakistan’s cricket tour of Engalnd turned out to be a major money spinner for the bookies, according to reports.

According to a report in the Daily Mirror tabloid, match-fixing crooks have so far earned at least £20 million during Pakistan’s tour, which also involved a Test series against Australia.“And the cut to players involved in the alleged scam could be around £6 million,” a police source told the tabloid.

“There are huge amounts of money involved. A well-organised gang could easily have bagged tens of millions in a world-wide gambling operation,” the tabloid quoted an expert as saying.Meanwhile, Scotland Yard was examining the mobile phones of several Pakistan cricketers confiscated during a raid from their hotel rooms after allegations of spot-fixing in the Lord’s Test had surfaced on Sunday.

Pakistan team’s bus was pelted with tomatoes and booed by their own supporters as they left Lord’s on Sunday, hours after four players were questioned by Scotland Yard sleuths in connection to the ‘spot-fixing’ allegations.

PCB may send accused players home

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt and the team management in England will take a call on Tuesday on whether to send the accused players home and to fly in replacements for them.Well-placed sources said that the captain for the forthcoming one-day series in England, Shahid Afridi would be meeting Butt and manager Yawar Saeed on Tuesday to discuss the situation.

“Obviously there is plenty of tension in the team and an air of uncertainty. There is a feeling of being betrayed among the players who are not among those accused of wrong doing in the series,” a source disclosed.

ICC awaits for Police Report, tour to go on

Pakistan set off on Monday for the next leg of their tour of England despite increasing pressure to call it off amid damaging allegations that top players were caught up in a match-fixing scandal.

The International Cricket Council and the cricket fraternity reacted with shock and dismay to claims that hundreds of thousands of pounds had changed hands in match-fixing schemes at Test level linked to betting rings dating back months.

The ICC though has ruled out any action against Pakistan players until investigations are completed. “We have discussed it within the ICC and have decided to wait for the police investigation report,” ICC president Sharad Pawar said.

“After that we have to take a viewpoint of the two boards, in this case the Pakistan Cricket Board and the England and Wales Cricket Board. If anything is established, it will be viewed very seriously by the two boards and the ICC.

“I am absolutely confident that both boards will never encourage protecting anybody who has done a wrong thing,” he said, calling the allegations themselves “quite serious”.

Pawar said he was unaware that the middleman, Mazhar Majeed, told the tabloid that he worked for an “Indian party”.

“I don’t know,” the former Board of Control for Cricket in India chief said. “The BCCI will have to take a view on that. The BCCI is one of our members and I am sure if any serious matter is there, the BCCI will take cognisance of this. I can’t come to a conclusion based on a video.”

Despite the allegations, Pakistan travelled to Taunton in south-west England on the day where they are due to play county side Somerset in a warm-up match on Thursday, ahead of the start of Twenty20 and one-day series against England from Sunday.

Somerset chief executive Richard Gould played down the prospect of further fan protests by saying: “We prepare for all contingencies but we think that is the furthest thing from what is likely to happen at Somerset”.

Miandad Demanded Pak team to be replaced

Former Pakistan batting great Javed Miandad wants his nation’s entire cricket team to be replaced for the rest of the tour of England in the wake of match-fixing allegations against some of its players.

Miandad, the director general of the Pakistan Cricket Board, also wants the team management to return home ahead of the remaining two Twenty20 and five one-day internationals against England starting from next week.

“It will be tough for the players to handle this pressure as they will not be in the right frame of mind,” Miandad told The Associated Press.

“It’s better that they should be replaced with new players, and I think we have enough talented players in reserve,” he said, adding, “I am more than willing to accompany the new team and coach them in the Twenty20 and one-day internationals.”

Pakistan pacemen Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were accused by a British newspaper of being paid to deliberately bowl no-balls during Thursday’s opening day of the fourth test against England. Pakistan lost the match by an innings and 225 runs and the series 3-1.

If match fixing allegations are proven against any players, Miandad wants harsh sanctions to be imposed.

“If anyone is found guilty, he should not be spared and punished strictly,” he said.

Miandad, however, declined to make any comments when asked if he felt it was time for PCB chairman Ejaz Butt to resign.

“Look I don’t want to go into that. The chairman has been appointed by the chief patron of the board and only he can decide who will run cricket affairs,” he said,” adding, “I am a member of this board and I have the interest of Pakistan cricket at heart. That is why I am suggesting these radical steps.”

Pic Catipn:
Pakistan coach Waqar Younis (left) boards a bus as the team left for Taunton on Monday for the next leg of their tour of England despite increasing pressure to call it off amid allegations of match-fixing.

PCB Chairman Preparing the Primary report For President on Spot Fixing

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said the allegations of match-fixing against Pakistani cricketers had made the countrymen “bow their heads in shame.”

“I am deeply pained [by the reports],” he told journalists. “Our heads have been bowed in shame.”

Mr. Gilani said he was asking the Ministry of Sports to conduct an inquiry into the allegations.

President Asif Ali Zardari too expressed disappointment at the allegations.Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said Mr. Zardari directed officials to keep him updated with developments. He asked PCB chairman Ijaz Butt to submit a preliminary report immediately.

Pakistan team will throw two ODIs : Afridi

HATTED: Honest Shahid Afridi

CALLOUS Majeed revealed he was plotting for Pakistan to lose TWO of the One Day Internationals (ODIs) against England next month.

He said: "Boss I'm telling you, the timing you've come into. It's perfect because the one days and Twenty20s are about to start and we're going to be making a hell of a lot money."

Incredibly, he said he could guarantee Pakistan would LOSE two one-dayers.

He explained many players want Test skipper Salman Butt to remain captain for all matches, but the Pakistanis have drafted in veteran Shahid Afridi to lead the side for the one day internationals and Twenty20 matches. Majeed said: "A lot of the boys want to f*** up Afridi because he's trying to f*** up things for them.

"They all want Butt to be captain. They want to lose anyway.

"Let's say for example Twenty20, I'll tell you the bowlers, how many minimum runs they're going to concede. And the batsmen. I'm going to tell you how many, like say it was on the two opening batsmen, Salman and Kamal, for example, you've only got twenty overs, they're going to waste two overs, three overs.

"The Twenty20s are easiest. Then the bowlers as well, yeah, they will certainly give a certain amount of runs and they're going to be batting as well and give their wickets. We'll finalise a price for each one and we'll just take it off the balance. We'll take it off the 150 (grand) balance until we're square."

And he reassured: "Boss believe me, you are talking to the right people."

Pakistan team caught in spot fixing case on Lords test

Salman Butt's team has been plunged into a controversy over spot-fixing

The Pakistan team was warned about meeting Mazhar and Azhar Majeed by the team management at the start of their tour to England. One of the brothers, Mazhar, was arrested last night by Scotland Yard on suspicion of a conspiracy to defraud bookmakers, after being caught on video by the News of the World (NOTW) offering to bribe Pakistan's bowlers to bowl no-balls on demand during the Lord's Test.

The brothers are agents who represent a number of Pakistan's players in the UK, helping them secure sponsorships for cricket equipment among other things.

"When we started this tour, I told the players they should not be entertaining these two in their hotel rooms," Yawar Saeed, the team manager, told Cricinfo. "These boys are their agents and, anywhere we tour in the world, we tell our players that they are not allowed to have agents in their hotel rooms. It is the policy on the tour."

The team management had warned players as soon as they landed in London against meeting these two brothers because of suspicions about some of their activities, Pakistan's leading Urdu paper Jang had reported on July 27. The reporter, Abdul Majid Bhatti, said he received calls from men claiming to represent the brothers soon after the story appeared, threatening legal action.

NOTW claimed that seven Pakistan players were involved, though only four have been named so far. Saeed confirmed to Cricinfo that "one or two were questioned by Scotland Yard," last night soon after the story broke. He dismissed reports that the passports of several players had been taken away, saying that all passports were in the possession of the team management.

"Scotland Yard are now investigating and we will assist them in whatever way they may need," Saeed said. "I cannot say anything more right now."

England Defeated the Pakistan by Ininngs 225 runs

England duly completed an overwhelming innings-and-225-run victory over Pakistan, before lunch on the fourth day at Lord's, to take the series 3-1 but that faded into insignificance following the spot-fixing revelations which broke on Saturday evening and sent the game spiralling into another crisis. For the record, Graeme Swann claimed his ninth five-wicket haul, and his first at Lord's, while Umar Akmal biffed a late half-century.

A sombre atmosphere greeted the fourth morning with all the talk about the News of the World story which implicated a host of Pakistan players. There was a bizarre build-up to play starting as England warmed-up as normal while the visitors stayed in the dressing room having not arrived at the ground until 10am. Even the not-out batsmen, Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal, couldn't have a quick hit before resuming their innings and the contest was never going to last very long.

There may have been the possibility of a repeat of The Oval four years ago when Pakistan refused to take the field, but this time they lived up to their word and resumed play. However briefly that lasted. The MCC members allowed the batsmen a gentle hand as they came to the crease, but it was a formal acknowledgement at best.

Swann made the first breakthrough with his 10th ball of the day when he beat Azhar's outside edge with a lovely delivery that held its line and took off stump. However, even the normally exuberant Swann could only manage a muted celebration with the England players well aware that their performances in this match - and the series - will forever be tarnished.

But they remained professional and did what was required. James Anderson, who had quickly replaced Steven Finn at the Nursery End, found Kamran Akmal's outside edge to complete another miserable series for the wicketkeeper who ended with 24 runs in six innings. Mohammad Amir, a young man with plenty on his mind, was soon cleaned up by another wonderful ball from Swann that pitched middle and hit off and Wahab Riaz lobbed a simple catch to mid-on as Pakistan just caved in.

Saeed Ajmal was run out by a direct from Stuart Broad, but Pakistan avoided becoming the first side to be bowled out for less than a hundred twice in a Test in England since 1958 as Umar threw the bat in a 40-ball fifty which included two sixes off Swann, during a tenth-wicket stand of 50. However, Swann had the final say when he had Mohammad Asif caught at slip when a bottom edge rebounded off this boot and secured his place on the honours board. Honour, though, was in short supply elsewhere.

India Failed in Tri Series final at Sri Lanka

These two have binged on each other since July 2008, but what promises to be the one for the road went Sri Lanka's way, ending their run of losses in big home matches. On the tournament's best batting track, though not quite a flat belter, Tillakaratne Dilshan's risk-free yet urgent century and Kumar Sangakkara's delightful half-century set a target never reached under Dambulla lights. When Virender Sehwag left his team-mates - who'd scored 288 runs between them before the start of the final - with 262 to get, it was all but over. The flame flickered for longer than expected, but not nearly long enough.

Umpiring decisions and manic appealing dominated the chase but couldn't alter the expected result. Dinesh Karthik was given out caught off the thigh pad. Virender Sehwag's plumb lbw was not given, but he ran himself out off the same ball. Yuvraj Singh got away with a caught-behind before opening his account but was given out, 26 runs later, off one he didn't seem to have edged. MS Dhoni survived a close lbw call when on 12 but ran out of partners as the asking rate mounted.

The start of the match was much more serene. In fact, off the fourth ball of the game, Praveen Kumar hardly appealed when he had Mahela Jayawardene caught right in front. Jayawardene, promoted because of his technical prowess, put together the best opening stand of the tournament - 121, an association that also set up the highest team total. The way Dilshan and Jayawardene batted, without taking any undue risks, it was easy to see why the previous best of 79 too belonged to them. The ball may not have swung wildly, but the batsmen were tested by the early movement that Praveen and Munaf Patel extracted.

Neither batsman tried expansive shots. In his first three overs, Praveen went too far down the leg side, looking for that magic outswinger, and went for fours through midwicket and fine leg. It wasn't as easy to hit Munaf off his shortish length, around off and with slight seam movement either side. They didn't try to do that; instead they played out Munaf's first four overs for 13, yet the score at the end of those overs read 47 for 0.

Dilshan targeted Ashish Nehra and Ishant Sharma. Nehra's second ball and Ishant's first were punched away for fours. Both the shots were hit along the ground, and involved more enterprise than risk. By the time Ishant's second over yielded six, four and four, Dilshan had moved to 43 off 30, and Sri Lanka to 74 after 12 overs.

Dilshan had assumed total control by then. The punch shot through the off side, with his front foot out of the way, caused the main damage. One of those, off Nehra, brought up his fifty in the 16th over. Nehra's figures then read 4-0-31-0.

Forget the fifth bowler, Dhoni must have started worrying about how to finish the quotas of specialist bowlers, all quicks. Dilshan's pace didn't make the task any easier. Barring one spell near his century, when he spent 38 balls between his 12th and 13th boundaries, the longest Dilshan went without a four was 16 balls.

During that quiet period Sri Lanka lost Jayawardene and Upul Tharanga against the run of play, but Kumar Sangakkara made sure the team didn't fall behind. In the time that Dilshan went from 92 to 100 and Sangakkara hared from 11 to 32, taking Sri Lanka to 194 in the 37th over. Dilshan then threatened more punishment on India, but holed out to long leg.

Sangakkara made up for it and, even with wickets falling at the other end, drive followed elegant drive. The superb acceleration - from 19 off 29 to 70 off 59 - was interrupted by a slower ball from Munaf in the 45th over, but Sri Lanka had reached 261 for 6. Munaf's last three overs went for 14 runs and two wickets, but a target of 300 meant India would need more than just Sehwag.

Sehwag hit six scorching boundaries in the first six overs. Off the last ball of the sixth over, Nuwan Kulasekara had him plumb in front, but umpire Asoka de Silva seemed the only one to disagree. Sehwag got greedy and sought a leg-bye that didn't exist. Chamara Kapugedera was not only alert, he also hit direct.

Thisara Perera, now Sri Lanka's India specialist, and Suraj Randiv, who got nice drift and dip, kept the wicket flow going in the middle.

Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Dhoni tried to buck the trend of India's hopes disappearing with Sehwag, but Sri Lanka were at them all the time. Kohli's uncharacteristic hoick showed the pressure the required rate exerted, Raina's cameo involved too many risks and ended prematurely from India's point of view, and Dhoni's 67 were too late and too few.

Pakistan lost early wickets after Trott, Broad strong Bat

Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad set a new world-record eighth-wicket stand of 332 on the third morning at Lord's as their monumental effort lifted England to 445 for 8 at lunch. Broad eventually fell for 169, just four runs short of the best by a No. 9 in Test cricket, after a partnership which spanned almost 96 overs but Trott remained unbeaten on 183.

The new record was brought up in Wahab Riaz's first over the day when Broad slotted a cover drive to the boundary to surpass the 313-run stand by Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq against Zimbabwe in 1996. Thoughts were turning towards an extraordinary double century from Broad, who had passed his father's Test best of 162, when Pakistan finally struck as Broad was given out lbw on a review.

The first few runs of the day brought a host of landmarks as Trott went to his 150 from 303 balls with his opening scoring shot and a new England record was soon crossed when Gubby Allen and Les Ames were pushed into second place for the eighth wicket. Trott and Broad played themselves in again with some careful batting and Pakistan heads soon went down when they couldn't claim an early breakthrough.

Broad was given a life on 132 when Kamran Akmal couldn't gather an edge off Saeed Ajmal and the scoring rate soon increased as both batsmen began to find the boundary with regularity. Broad lost nothing in comparison with his partner with the cover-driving a highlight of the display as he, too, went past 150 but missed out on knocking Ian Smith from the top spot for a No. 9.

Mohammad Amir toiled away in a far more defensive mindset than the previous day as he persisted with a wide line to Trott who was quite content to let the ball go until something was overpitched or on the pads. His timing and placement was of the highest quality, particularly a couple of off-side strokes against Ajmal, as he approached another milestone of becoming the first batsman to score two Test double centuries at Lord's.