Bell tries to drum up some enthusiasm

CRICKET:THE ALLEGATIONS of the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman have brought the England team together ahead of the final game. On Monday Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt refused to rescind claims England players deliberately lost the third one-day international at The Oval last Friday.

“It is a final for us and, as far as I’m concerned, when the big games come up England are often at their best, just like in the Twenty20 World Cup, so let’s hope that is the case here.”

Thus spoke Ian Bell and it sounds as if he really might be looking forward to the last match of the season at the Rose Bowl between England and Pakistan today. If that is the case he is probably in a minority in the England set-up. Bell is fresh. He missed almost all the matches against Pakistan with an ankle injury, returning for the game at Lord’s on Monday. He has been on holiday. It is just possible that he wondered what all the fuss is about.

But fuss there was and fuss there is. We now know Giles Clarke, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, declined a request from Haroon Lorgat, the chief executive of the International Cricket Council, to call off the third one-day international, at The Oval, minutes before it was due to start last Friday.

We also know that on the eve of the Lord’s match ECB officials had to persuade the England team to play so hurt were the squad by the scatter-gun allegations of Butt. Now the England players must have an idea what it is like to be an innocent in the Pakistan dressingroom. Bell admits to a slightly different perspective on the slurs against the England team. “One thing that has come out of the latest allegations has been how close we’ve stuck together and it has brought us tighter in our anger over what has been said. I’ve been out of the loop recently with my injury . . . so my feelings are probably a bit different to the guys that have been playing.

“These are difficult circumstances but the guys knew they wanted to do what was right for the future of cricket and for the bigger picture. We knew there would be a lot of people coming to Lord’s to watch us and our responsibilities lay with them as much as with anything else. Everyone had their say over this and there were differing views but at the outset it was clear the guys would stick together whatever the outcome.

“It wasn’t great preparation at all. Pakistan were probably the better team on the day and we can’t use what has gone on as an excuse for our performance.”

So against all expectation it is probably Pakistan, despite all the turmoil in their camp – yesterday’s little drama, subsequently denied, was that their manager, Yawar Saeed, was going to resign 24 hours before the end of the tour – who look forward to today’s deciding match more than grim-faced England.

Pakistan wins at The Oval and Lord’s sees the series stand at 2-2. The outcome of the match is more likely to be decided by the toss than by some shady sub-continental bookmaker. In the absence of much dew it has been a distinct advantage to bat first in these floodlit games. Whoever wins, there will be an almighty sigh of relief when it is all over.

GuardianService