Clarke still taking public for fools

ECB chairman Giles Clarke, pictured here with Stanford, a man he hailed as a saviour of world cricket a few months ago (Stanford is now charged with fraud in the US) has been at it again this morning.

The coming T20 and ODIs against Pakistan take place without England's best player, Kevin Pietersen, whatever his current form, and without the Pakistan test captain and their best two bowlers. They also take place with most people wondering whether anything untoward is going on with public faith in the authenticity of what they are watching at an all time low.

Tickets for these fiascos are priced upto £100, and what a surprise they have not sold well.

Yet Clarke tells us this morning that:

We look forward to an extremely competitive series full of excellent cricket and we can assure cricket fans across the country that the matches will be played in the most competitive spirit, long associated with contests between England and Pakistan

The man should take up a new career with the Muppets.

First ECB stab KP in back, now Miller twists knife?

News today that KP has been dropped from the England ODI and T20 series against Pakistan and told to find some form before the Ashes with Surrey. No problem with that, provided the same message is sent to the other 4 batting failures this summer - that's Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Eoin Morgan, and Andrew Strauss.

If any or all of them are selected for the internationals, it suggests the old boys, jacket and tie, Pimms at 4, and head in the sand brigade is emerging triumphant again, with blatant favouritism now the watch word for the ECB and chief selector Geoff Miller.

We await the official announcement at 5.15 with interest...

UPDATE 6pm: Strauss and Collingwood both retain places. No surprise. Despite neither showing any sort of form with the bat all summer.

Time for ECB to put principles before cash

The photo says it all. The ECB chairman handing over a large cheque to the man named in the News of the World as being paid to bowl no-balls. But it's time the ECB took a stand and cancelled the ODIs with Pakistan, even if it means losing £12m.

Who knows how many of the Pakistan team are in the pay of the bookmakers? Looking back over the last year a lot of their results now look dodgy. The wicket keeper has dropped countless chances, and the exiled Essex spinner Khaneria has overstepped for no-balls a ridiculous amount of times for a slow bowler.

These fellas are only on £1000-£2000 a month compared to their England counterparts who all pick up at least £10k a month plus endorsements. But when you have such a deliberate link between bookmaker, player, and incident as detailed in the News of the World, you would have to be a mug to turn up to a one day match in the next month and believe what you witness is 100% genuine.

But the ECB like taking the paying punter for a mug. They've been doing it for years. So expect Clarke and his cohorts to bury their heads in the sand, and for the tour to continue.

Dodgy stuff earlier in Pakistan series?

A quick scan of the cricinfo scorecards - I'll leave it to those who are paid to look into these things to investigate further - reveals:

1st Test
England 1st innings
8.4
Mohammad Amir to Cook, 5 wides, horrid! That's the worst ball Aamer has bowled in a long while. Full and a long, long way down leg side, that has gone so wide it's hit the return crease
18.1
Danish Kaneria to Trott, (no ball) 2 runs, wow, this must have slipped out! A chest-high full toss from Kaneria takes Trott by surprise, and he can only tap it to midwicket. That was a shocker
43.5
Umar Gul to Collingwood, (no ball) 1 run, oops, lots wrong with this from Pakistan, firstly it was a no ball from Gul, then a routine leg-side clip was missed at square leg by Asif, who seemed to pounce straight over the ball
43.5
Umar Gul to Morgan, 1 no ball, Gul struggling here, another no ball, this is not what Salman Butt needs, Morgan lets it go by outside off

2nd Innings
31.4
Mohammad Asif to Prior, (no ball) FOUR, what a very good shot from Prior, Asif came from wide on the crease and angled it in on a fullish length, Prior drove straight back down the ground for a boundary. And that was a back-foot no-ball, because Asif came so wide, his back foot was crossing the return crease
48.6
Danish Kaneria to Prior, 1 no ball, oops, no ball, not sure there's any excuse for that

3rd Test
England 1st Innings
1.5
Mohammad Asif to Cook, 1 no ball, full and straight on middle and leg, tucked defensively towards mid-on
29,1
Wahab Riaz to Prior, 1 no ball, Wahab powering in and this time oversteps. Wasn't a great delivery either, shoved well outside off
33.3
Mohammad Amir to Prior, 1 no ball, this time Amir loses his line and swings it down the leg side, no ball as well

2nd Innings
42.5
Mohammad Asif to Cook, FOUR, a century for Cook! But what a way to get it... He had just pushed forward to defend back to the bowler. But, bizarrely, Asif picked the ball up and tried to lob it back to the keeper... but threw it way over his head for four overthrows! A freakish way to get to the ton, but it's been Cook's day

Public taken for fools as Pakistan crumble

4th Test Lords; Pakistan 74 & 147 lost to England 446 by an innings & 225 runs

Who knows how genuine this result is after this morning's revelations in the News of the World, where it is alleged several Pakistan players have been paid for a bit of spot-fixing. No-balls to order. It's all on tape. Now it up to the cricket authorities to sort it out. But it's doubtful whether they'll be able to do anything. Lord Condon is not exactly a man who got close to the back street world of Indian and Pakistan bookmakers. And if he had, who's to say he wouldn't have ended up cut up and bagged in his London flat?

Investigations will no doubt now go on, but don't rely on the cricket press to reveal anything, as there's is a cosy world of ex-pros, comfy pubs, and flash restaurants. Where were Atherton, Pringle, Fraser, Vaughan, Stewart, et al last night on the eve of these allegations? No doubt ensconced with a nice bottle of red relaxing after another heavy day of lucrative corporate hospitality action.

The public all summer have been treated like mugs by the ECB with overpriced tickets against moderate opposition. Now it turns out what we've watched has not been 100% authentic. We've been taken for fools twice over. Today's game ended in barely 3 days with the mugs who'd paid £60-£100 a ticket seeing less than 1 session.

Back on the cricket and England go into the Ashes with five batsmen badly out of form. Those who single out KP need to get real and identify the four others responsible for the batting collapses this summer. The list reads Strauss, Cook, Collingwood, Morgan and KP. Check out the averages - none of them average over 26. All should be released from the mickey mouse one dayers and sent back to county cricket. If KP signs up at the Oval the gates for the games will be 5,000 up.

Pakistan win deservedly to set up Lords finale

3rd Test The Oval England 233 & 223, Pakistan 308 & 148-6

A great performance from Pakistan in this Test saw victory secured just after 3pm in front of a full house. The win was gifted by a spectacular England collapse after tea yesterday, which dramatically changed the match and the view of the 23,000 paying specatators who must have thought they would witness England go 3-0 up. Instead it was fair play to Pakistan who have come back from the dead in this series, and who must be favourites to square the series at Lords next week.

England looked lacklustre in the morning session, Strauss went too defensive went wickets were needed, and Anderson, Broad and Finn bowled too wide, too short, and too badly. Pakistan were cantering.

It all changed after lunch when the tourists lost 3 wickets cheaply, and for half an hour, the Peter May stand believed. But England were at least 50 short of a competitive total, and they lacked the reverse swing killer bowler who could have made the decisive difference in this test. Most of all however, their batsmen collective failures led to this defeat.

England were poor with the bat last year at home against the Aussies - the bowling saved them that time - but somebody needs to have a word - as we need two front liners to fire in the same innings consistently to have any chance of making this winter's Ashes competitive.

Credit to Pakistan though, a job well done.

A word on the Oval fleecers; £3.70 for a pint of Fosters, £21 plus £5 deposit for a jug of Pimms. Paul Sheldon, Oval chief executive, and colleagues at ECB, hang your heads in shame. You, and the pitch announcer who must be the only bloke in the world to still use the word "luncheon", belong in a different age.

Also a word for Graham Thorpe, who was hosting a Q and A in the npower stand at lunch. Here's a question for you Graham:

"Is it a good idea to sleep with a student when your wife has just given birth to your baby thousands of miles away?"

Calypso Collapso tosses away test

erd Test The Oval, England 233 & 221-9 v Pakistan 308

It was a case of calypso collapso in 60 minutes as England tossed away a winning position declining to 220-9 a lead of just 145.

A lot has been made of the lack of form from chef cook and KP. The chef answered his critics in great Bedford style yesterday with his best Test century. The critics will be spitting but under great pressure, Cook came good.

Truth is the other batsman have generally made one single contribution all series. Take this form into the Ashes and we will struggle.

More madness from the authorities at 5pm in front of a sell out crowd paying an average of £60. The players trooped off despite there being no rain and the floodlights being on.

The rules need changing as the paying public won't put up with a sport still governed by a cosy mix of jacket and tie wearing tories and ex-players happy to soak up corporate hospitality work.

If the weather holds off Saturday should see a result with Pakistan odds-on providing the batting fragility of the first two tests doesn't return.