The ECB was forced to pay back ticket money for the final day of the fourth Test match in August and also decided to offer a 40 per cent refund to the 23,000 spectators who saw Pakistan twice refuse to take the field — thereby forfeiting the match — after tea on the fourth day.

The PCB is sticking to its view that it was Darrell Hair, the umpire, who brought the game to an end and that the team had been prepared to carry on, having completed their protest against England being awarded five penalty runs for Pakistan allegedly tampering with the ball. They were subsequently cleared of the offence.

The ECB declined to comment on the financial issue, except to say that correspondence with the PCB was confidential. However, a spokesman for the PCB said: “We have decided to contest the claim legally as the Pakistan board was not responsible for the Test not being completed.”

Relations between the bodies have become increasingly cordial in recent years and David Morgan, the ECB chairman, will be able to speak face to face with Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, in India next month, when officials from all of the full-member countries are scheduled to meet on ICC business.

Although the PCB emphasised from the outset that its dispute lay with Hair rather than the ECB, it was clear that the home board stood to be the biggest losers. Matters would have been even worse had Pakistan carried out a threat to withdraw from the one-day NatWest Series.

Unless the two boards — and their lawyers — can agree on a settlement, the matter may be referred to the ICC for arbitration. That could take months and there is no guarantee that the ICC would do anything but fudge the issue.

As it tries to resist the ECB claim, the PCB will say that it was Hair and Billy Doctrove, the second on-field umpire, who would not budge during frantic talks on the Sunday evening that the Test match was finished, even though all other parties were prepared to resume play the next morning.

It will also feel that its case was strengthened by the verdict of Ranjan Madugalle, the ICC match referee, who took charge of the inquiry, in finding no conclusive proof that any Pakistan player had contravened Law 42 by tampering with the ball.

However, none of this will appease the ECB. It will say, simply, that Inzamam was wrong to resort to the action that he took, a point supported by Madugalle’s decision to uphold a disrepute charge against him.

Pakistan have suggested that any demand for compensation would lead them towards a counter-claim against Hair, but Inzamam said last week, after accepting a ban of four one-day internationals — the most lenient for a level-three offence — that he would prefer to forgive Hair and move on.

Inzamam received a vote of considerable confidence yesterday when he was retained as captain for the Test series against West Indies next month, Pakistan’s immediate commitment after the ICC Champions Trophy. His place in the one-day competition has been taken by Faisal Iqbal.

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