The sizeable crowd returning home after witnessing the engrossing proceedings at Lord's between intermittent showers on Tuesday were blissfully unaware of the storm that was then raging in the Pakistani dressing room.
The sizeable crowd returning home after witnessing the engrossing proceedings at Lord's between intermittent showers on Tuesday were blissfully unaware of the storm that was then raging in the Pakistani dressing room.
The tempest in Shakespeare country had broken out when controversial match referee Chris Broad, reviled in Asian Test-playing countries for his perceived racist proclivity, had stormed into the Pakistani dressing-room to reprimand fast bowler Mohammed Aamer following his altercation with Australian skipper Ricky Ponting on the first day of the "neutral" Test series.
The Pakistanis were incensed at the match referee's action, legitimately believing that, rather than the 18-year old bowler, it was Ponting who should have been rapped over the knuckles for elbowing Aamer after he had dismissed Ponting for 26.
Dubious record
According to eye-witnesses, choice Punjabi expletives were hurled at Broad, who is notorious among Asian players and especially in Pakistan for his dubious record of handing out punishments on nine occasions for various alleged offences during his seven years as ICC match referee.
Broad, a former England opening batsman, is widely believed to be responsible for his Test fast bowler son Stuart's repeated obnoxious behaviour and disdain for the authority of the ICC. He is remembered in Pakistan for refusing to leave the crease during the Lahore Test in 1987 after being given out caught behind.
The blatant incident took place in full view of the galleries and television cameras and, given the fact that Australia is the Old Enemy ufffd has been prominently displayed on newspaper sports pages here.
Broad tried to explain his biased decision against Aamer by citing a similar incident in the Twenty20 game at Edgbaston last week when the exuberant youngster, being hailed as an exciting find on the world stage, inadvertently bumped into Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke while celebrating the batsman's dismissal.
"I told him that when he takes a wicket, he should celebrate with his team-mates rather than getting himself into the personal space of the outgoing batsman. It's a spirit of cricket issue", Broad said, without any reference to Ponting's brazen physical action, nor the fact that he was not being warned under the ICC Code of Conduct.
Known to be exceedingly, if not excessively, sensitive in such matters, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has treated the matter as closed.
The incident has an echo in the tour of England in 2006 when captain Inzamam-ul-Haq's team forfeited the fourth Test at the Oval after the captain refused to lead his players out on to the field after tea on the penultimate day following allegations of ball tampering by Pakistan by umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove.
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