LONDON, Aug 20: Play in the fourth Test at The Oval was overshadowed by a controversial decision by the umpires to penalise Pakistan five runs for ball tampering on the fourth day on Sunday.

The decision to invoke the penalty, the first time it had been awarded in a Test match, came at the end of the 56th over, bowled by paceman Umar Gul.

Following an inspection by the umpires, Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove, Australia's Hair tapped his shoulder to signal the penalty runs and England's score rose from 230 for three to 235 for three.

There then followed an animated discussion, involving Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, as England's batsmen chose a replacement ball as authorised by the playing regulations.

In the match itself England were 298 for four when bad light forced an early tea, a deficit of 33 runs, with Paul Collingwood 26 not out and Ian Bell nine not out in a four-match series the hosts had already won at 2-0 up.

England had earlier lost Kevin Pietersen for a typically flamboyant 96. Dropped on 15 by Kamran Akmal, Pietersen was brilliantly caught one-handed by the diving wicket-keeper off seamer Shahid Nazir, having bottom-edged a cut.

His exit left England 277 for four after he'd dominated a stand of 59 with Collingwood and struck leg-spinner Danish Kaneria for a straight six.

Pietersen faced a mere 114 balls with two sixes and 13 fours before falling just short of what would have been his sixth Test hundred.

Alastair Cook had several slices of good fortune on his way to 83, having already made two centuries this series.

But Umar Gul deceived the 22-year-old Essex batsman with a yorker that pinned Cook lbw to end a 146-ball innings with 11 fours, England now 218 for three.

Earlier Cook was fortunate not to be given out on 33, was bowled off a no-ball on 40 and dropped on 47.

Instead the only wicket England lost in the first session was that of captain Andrew Strauss for 54.

England, already an unbeatable 2-0 up in the series, resumed on 78 for one after rain delayed the start by 15 minutes.

Strauss was 37 not out and fellow left-hander Cook 33 not out.

Cook was still on his overnight score when he gave a pad/bat catch off Kaneria to Imran Farhat at silly point.

But West Indian umpire Billy Doctrove turned down the appeal.

Cook then had another lucky break when, on 40, he was bowled by former Essex team-mate Kaneria off a no-ball. Replays indicated that this time Doctrove had got a tight decision correct.

Strauss, having completed his fifty, was given out lbw to a sharply spinning Kaneria delivery that pitched outside off-stump and might have missed leg to end a stand of 107 in 157 balls.

Cook then had a huge slick of luck when he miscued a hook off Asif only for Faisal Iqbal to drop the gentle chance at square leg.

Then Pietersen, in on a pair, had made 15 when he edged a sharply turning leg-break from Kaneria but the ball went in and out of Kamran’s gloves.

Cricket's Law 21.3 states clearly states “that, in the opinion of the umpires, a team refuses to play, the umpires shall award the match to the other side.”

This was the first time such a five-run penalty for ball-tampering had been imposed in Test cricket, an International Cricket Council (ICC) spokesman said.

Umpires have refused to stand in Tests before although the majority of major flashpoint incidents came in the days before the introduction of 'neutral' officials.

Back in 1973, English umpire Arthur Fagg stayed off the field during a Test match between England and the West Indies at Edgbaston after being upset by West Indian reaction to his decision to give England's Geoff Boycott not out, although he did later take the field.

And in Dunedin in 1980 the West Indies briefly refused to take the field during a Test in protest at New Zealand official Fred Goodall.

At Faisalabad in 1987, Pakistan's Shakoor Rana refused to stand until he'd received an apology from England captain Mike Gatting after the pair had had an on-field row.

Gatting scribbled an apology and the match continued.

Pakistan's 1992 tour of England was blighted by allegations of ball-tampering with pace great Waqar Younis, now Pakistan's bowling coach, coming under intense scrutiny.

And in 2000 Waqar himself received a one-match ban for ball tampering following a One-day International against South Africa in Sri Lanka while Azhar Mahmood was fined for “abetting” the infringment in the same match.

Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, ruled out of the current series with because of an ankle injury, received a reprimand in November 2002 for the same offence after a Test match against Zimbabwe in Harare.

And the following year, in May, Shoaib was given a two-match ban for ball tampering after a One-day International against New Zealand in Dambulla.

England's fightback was overshadowed by the ball tampering incident halfway through the afternoon session.

Meanwhile, Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer said: “The team is upset that they have been accused of tampering with the ball and therefore 'cheating'.

“It is a no-win situation as now Darrell Hair has refused to umpire.”

Scoreboard

ENGLAND (1st Innings) 173 (Umar Gul 4-47, Mohammad Asif 4-56).

PAKISTAN (1st Innings) 504 (Mohammad Yousuf 128, Mohammad Hafeez 95, Imran Farhat 91, Faisal Iqbal 58 not out; S.J. Harmison 4-125).

ENGLAND (2nd Innings, overnight 78-1):

M.E. Trescothick c Kamran b Asif 4

A.J. Strauss lbw b Kaneria 54

A.N. Cook lbw b Umar Gul 83

K.P. Pietersen c Kamran b Shahid Nazir 96

P.D. Collingwood not out 26

I.R. Bell not out 9

EXTRAS (B-8, LB-3, NB-10, PR-5) 26

TOTAL (for four wkts, 72 overs) 298

FALL OF WKTS: 1-8, 2-115, 3-218, 4-277.

BOWLING (to-date): Mohammad Asif 17-1-79-1 (6nb); Umar Gul 14-1-70-1 (1nb); Mohammad Hafeez 4-1-13-0; Danish Kaneria 29-6-94-1 (2nb); Shahid Nazir 8-1-26-1 (1nb).—Agencies