THE Brit Oval ball-tampering affair rolls on and the ECB has given Pakistan a deadline of the end of this month to compensate it for losses from the forfeited fourth Test match to the tune of £800,000.

Pakistan have rejected the claim publicly, blaming the ICC, whom they believe should pay the compensation, but David Collier, the ECB chief executive, said that “the ball is in their [Pakistan’s] court”.

With all sides apparently retrenching, the lawyers will be busy again. Pakistan will have hardened their position after Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, yesterday appeared to give a firmer endorsement of the future of Darrell Hair, the umpire whose actions inflamed the Pakistan team.

“The Pakistan board have been very consistent with us in saying England are the totally innocent party,” Collier said. “Whatever happens, England should not be economically penalised on that Test match.

“The argument, particularly following the hearing at the Oval, that Pakistan have raised is that was there was a causal effect to prevent the game being concluded and Pakistan’s contention would be that the claim should be to the ICC rather than PCB.

“We’ve now formally gone back to Pakistan and have pointed out to Pakistan that if there is a causal effect it is up to Pakistan to take up with the third party not for England to take up. So the ball is back in Pakistan’s court.”

A legal battle appears inevitable. “We have said in our letter that the Oval Test not being completed is a case of cause and effect. The ‘cause’ was when umpire Darrell Hair accused our team of ball-tampering and the ‘effect’ was our team refusing to play the match,” Saleem Altaf, the Pakistan director of cricket operations, said last week. “The ECB should realise that we have been vindicated in our stand on ball-tampering, which led to the effect. They should contact the person responsible.”

The Oval Test was forfeited, the first time it has happened in 129 years of Test cricket, at tea on the fourth day after Pakistan refused to continue play in protest against the decision of Hair and Billy Doctrove to penalise them five runs for alleged ball-tampering. The ICC cleared the Pakistan captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq, of ball-tampering charges but banned him for four matches for bringing the game into disrepute.