England angry over Butt's remarks

London: Pakistan were embroiled in a bitter new corruption row before play even began in the fourth one-day international against England at Lord's Monday.

In a strongly worded statement, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) rejected an allegation of match-fixing in the third match on Friday which Pakistan won by 23 runs.

The allegation came from Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz Butt in a television interview on Sunday in which he said "there is loud and clear talk in bookies' circles that some English players were paid enormous amounts of money to lose [Friday's] match".

Although Butt appeared to backtrack yesterday when he told BBC radio that he had no proof of any wrongdoing and was merely relaying information he had heard from bookmakers, the damage had been done.

A joint statement from the ECB and the England team confirmed the tour of England and Wales would continue, but it called Butt's reported comments "wholly irresponsible and completely without foundation".

"Both the ECB and Team England view the comments made by Mr Butt as defamatory and not based in fact."