The fourth test of the 4 test series between England and Pakistan which concluded on 29th August 2010 will be remembered for both cricketing and non cricketing reasons.  Now coming to cricketing reason one must give credit for England's extraordinary fightback lead by Trott and the brilliant Stuart Broad.  Pakistan were well on course for a series levelling win having England reeling at 102 for 7 but  the brilliance of Stuart Board in a partnership of 332 in less than 100 overs with Trott not only saved the test match for England but ensured that Pakistan were out of the Test and series.

To begin with Stuart Broad and his father Christ Broad are similar and dissimilar in many ways.  Chris Broad is a batsman while his son Stuart Board is exactly the opposite and is a fast bowler but there is a similarity as well as they both open the innings in their respective capacities as opening batsman and opening bowlers.  Both of them are very tall while father Christ is 6 feet and 4 inches, son Stuart has done one better standing at 6 feet and5 inches. Stuart Broad has overtaken his father in terms of Test Matches with 32 compared to his fathers 25.  Stuart Broads brilliant 169 has taken him past his fathers highest ever test score of 162.

Stuart Broad during his brilliant innings of 169 also passed 1000 runs in a test career in which he is shaping up to be a all rounder.  Stuart Broad has 97 wickets to his name in tests and another 3 wickets would make him only the 52nd bowler in the history of test matches to achieve the all rounders double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets.  With 250 runs at an average of 41.66 Stuart Broad is the second highest run getter for England in the series and his 14 wickets at 23.35 make him the 3rd highest wicket taker for England in this series.  One must say that the series clearly belonged to Stuart Broad and Pakistan though won one test were no match for England having been bowled out for less than 100 runs as many as 3 times in the series.

Now coming to allegations of match fixing against Pakistani bowlers BCCI have a big problem at hand.  Sharad Pawar heads the ICC and knowing Indian weakness of vote bank politics Pakistan Cricket Board in all likelihood will put pressure on Indian Board to allow their players to go scot free or with a minimal punishment.  The fact that one Indian fixer too is involved will complicate matters for Sharad Pawar andBCCI. Already Indian support has started coming to Pakistan in the form of Anil Kumble's statement in which he has stated that match fixing is not just restricted to Pakistan but goes beyond it.  Muthiah Muralidharan,  a beneficiary of BCCI during his controversial days has said that decision cannot be taken without the allegations being proved.  Kumbles and Muralis comments coming in after having watch visuals on television cleary indicates their indirect support for a Asian cause.

In all fairness ICC should ensure that players involved in match fixing should be punished and the Indian bookie if found guilty should not be spared.  Let us hope BCCI co operates with the ICC in bringing the guilty the book whether the players beong to Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka or for that matter anywhere in the world.