Pakistan and England head for showdown

Pakistan and England are set for a stormy showdown as the cricket corruption scandal continues.

The visitors won the fourth one-day international on Monday, levelling the Natwest Series at 2-2 ahead of Wednesday's decider at the Rose Bowl.

The match very nearly did not take place as England considered their response to Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt's claims that Strauss' team had deliberately lost at the Brit Oval on Friday in return for "enormous sums of money".

England captain Andrew Strauss refuted those allegations in the strongest terms and spoken of his team's "outrage" before play began.

Mr Butt said allegations of spot-fixing levelled at Pakistan players were part of a "conspiracy to defraud and defame Pakistan cricket." He added: "We have taken in hand our own investigation and we will shortly name the persons, parties, organisations involved in this sinister conspiracy against us."

He spoke out after the International Cricket Council opened another investigation into alleged Pakistani fixing on the tour, following claims that the scoring pattern in Pakistan's innings on Friday was prearranged. The ICC received information from the Sun newspaper ahead of the match that cricket's governing body said "appeared to be correct."