Fletcher tips spirit on Punter's wounds

THE time-wasting row that engulfed the end of the Cardiff Test escalated into hypocrisy and farce on Tuesday when England's Ashes-winning coach, Duncan Fletcher, said Ricky Ponting was in no position to accuse the English of gamesmanship because he demonstrated only a "vague" understanding of the spirit of cricket himself.

The man whose imaginative use of substitute fielders pushed Ponting to boiling point four years ago remains intent on getting under the Australians' skin and he used his newspaper column to question the Australian captain's sportsmanship after Ponting expressed his displeasure with England's delaying tactics during the match-saving partnership between Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar at Sophia Gardens on Sunday.

"England will be delighted they left Cardiff with a draw - and no doubt amused that they head for Lord's with a lecture about the spirit of the game from Ricky Ponting, of all people, ringing in their ears," Fletcher wrote in The Guardian. "If any side in the world doesn't play within the spirit of the game, it's Ponting's Australians, yet here he is sitting in judgment of England because he's frustrated that his bowlers failed to do the job."

Fletcher's tirade struck a farcical note when he said that if he were still England coach, he would not have allowed 12th man Bilal Shafayat and physiotherapist Steve McCaig, an Australian, onto the field for a second time in as many overs as the agitated Australians ran out of time to take the final wicket. This from the man who sat on the balcony and taunted Ponting after he was run out by substitute fielder Gary Pratt at Trent Bridge in 2005.

Fletcher said Ponting had earlier behaved badly by imploringly holding the ball out towards umpire Aleem Dar after he turned down a catch off Paul Collingwood as England fought a tense battle to save the Test.

"Can the Australians really argue that England's tactics are worse than the way Ponting places pressure on the umpires and makes them look bad in front of a huge crowd and TV audience? And we haven't even mentioned Australia's sledging," he said. "The Australians are getting very prickly - just like four years ago - and that's a good sign for Andrew Strauss and his team."

England escaped sanction for time-wasting after umpires Dar and Billy Doctrove failed to make a report for a breach of the laws or the code of conduct, despite ordering the 12th man and physiotherapist from the field.

Ponting had openly stated his hope that the matter would be brought before match referee Jeff Crowe, but batsman Mike Hussey later emphasised the importance of not carrying the controversy into the Lord's Test, where the Australians will be desperate to establish a series lead after dominating in Cardiff for the best part of five days.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain said the English had crossed the line with their blatant stalling tactics, basically suggesting they should have been more subtle about it