Before anyone asks, there is no evidence to suggest Mike Scott recently resurfaced on Pakistan’s national team. From the BBC.
Top cricket officials were locked in talks to try to save the fourth Test between England and Pakistan after it descended into chaos on day four.
Pakistan initially refused to take to the field after tea in protest at being penalised for ball-tampering.
But after the tourists made a u-turn, umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove then threw the match into total confusion by staying in the pavilion.
There are hopes the match at The Oval in London will continue on Monday.
The row began when Hair and Doctrove stopped play to look at the condition of the ball after 56 overs with England on 230-3. It had begun to reverse-swing and they declared it had been altered artificially.
They penalised Pakistan five runs and allowed England batsmen Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood to select another ball.
Pakistan captain Inzaman-ul-Haq was clearly upset and annoyed at the decision but play continued without further incident until tea.
After the interval, however, Pakistan refused to come out and the umpires removed the bails after walking on to the pitch for a second time.
Thirty minutes later Pakistan emerged and walked on to the pitch but were told to head back to the dressing room because the umpires would not be coming out.
Khan said the team had been insulted by the accusation of cheating.
“The umpires have concluded the ball was deliberately scuffed and we are absolutely 100% sure that is not the case,” he said.
“Umpires are within their rights to decide without consulting but there was no consultation with anyone and no evidence seems to have been given.
“One or two of the management staff have had a look and are convinced this is a ball which has been hit about for 56 overs.
“We think it’s the kind of ball you’d expect to see and there is no evidence of deliberate scuffing. We hope the ball will be showed so people can make up their own minds about it.”
Back to the world of rounders, the Phillies have a 7-1 advantage over the Nationals in the top of the 3rd with runners on first and 3rd and no outs. I think we can safely conclude that Pedro Astascio has done nothing to alter the surface or composition of the baseball today.