England outraged by Butt's ODI bribe remarks

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Butt told Indian broadcaster NDTV that he had heard information from bookmakers that England had taken bribes to lose at The Oval four days ago.

The claims brought strong condemnation from England captain Andrew Strauss, who described his "dismay and outrage" at Butt's comments in a strongly-worded statement issued shortly before the fourth ODI began at Lord's yesterday.

ECB chief executive David Collier met with senior figures within the ECB on Sunday night before agreeing to England taking part in yesterday's match.

He admitted that the players had endured a "very difficult" 24 hours and conceded that legal action against Butt is an option.

"Clearly we will seek advice on that but there are quite strong laws of defamation," Collier said.

"You have to look at the option. You can't impugn someone's integrity without having proper evidence.

"To date I can say that we have received zero evidence of anything having influenced any England player."

Collier added: "There comes an occasion when we say things that would be better unsaid or gone through right channels.

"We clearly need to make sure players are not defamed in any way shape or form. We do not make comments about any other players or boards."

The episode is the latest story to emanate from a summer of controversy which has seen four players questioned by police over spot-fixing.

Three of them, Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif, have been suspended by the International Cricket Council but deny any wrongdoing.

The fourth, seamer Wahab Riaz, is still available for selection for the NatWest series, which ends at the Rose Bowl tomorrow.

England's players were so astounded by the accusations levelled at them that they considered refusing to play yesterday.

Strauss, who had earlier admitted that he could not wait for Pakistan's tour to end, said on behalf of the team: "We would like to express our surprise, dismay and outrage at the comments made by Mr Butt (on Sunday).

"We are deeply concerned and disappointed that our integrity as cricketers has been brought into question.

"We refute these allegations completely and will be working closely with the ECB to explore all legal options open to us."

He also urged "the Pakistani team and management to distance themselves from Mr Butt's allegations" adding: "We do, however, recognise our responsibilities to the game of cricket, and in particular to the cricket-loving public in this country, and will therefore endeavour to fulfil these fixtures to the best of our ability."

Butt defended his comments, claiming that there is a conspiracy within international cricket against Pakistan.

He said: "Why is Pakistan becoming a scapegoat for everything? This is not tit-for-tat. These are responses to allegations. This is biased. This is a conspiracy against the Pakistan team."

Pakistan set aside the off-field furore to level the NatWest Series at 2-2 with a 38-run victory over England at Lord's.

Abdul Razzaq's late hitting in a total of 265-7 and the skill and determination of Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul' with ball in hand proved too much for England and meant the series will be decided by tomorrow's final match.

Mohammad Hafeez (64) top-scored and shared the highest stand of Pakistan's innings as he and fellow opener Kamran Akmal put on 62 after Shahid Afridi won the toss, but it was Razzaq who inflicted the most damage.

He struck three fours and a six from the penultimate over off James Anderson and then smashed Tim Bresnan's last five balls for four. Graeme Swann (4-37) had stalled the tourists' progress, but Razzaq (44no) made the most of a late powerplay as 21 runs came from each of the last two overs.

Strauss raced to a third successive half-century at the top of the order in reply but his 68 – and a 113-run opening stand with Steve Davies – was to prove in vain as Pakistan squeezed England's batsmen under the lights.

After Butt's bombshell and long discussions about how they should respond, the hosts could hardly be criticised if their collective state of mind was not at its optimum for an international match.

Pakistan, however – beset for so long by allegations of spot-fixing – played from the outset like a team without a care in the world.