CRICKET: Pakistan's Shahid Afridi has been banned for one Test and two one-day internationals after deliberately scuffing the wicket in the second Test against England in Faisalabad yesterday.

Afridi was captured on camera roughing up one of the ends with his foot during a stoppage of play in the evening session.

Play was halted during England's first innings when a soft-drinks gas cylinder exploded at the side of the pitch. Afridi then apparently took the opportunity to exacerbate some of the bowlers' footmarks as ground security assessed the situation.

The intention of such an act would have been to try to increase the advantage he and team-mate Danish Kaneria would have when bowling leg-spin into the rough.

England already face the difficult task of having to bat last on the wicket.

Umpire Darrell Hair later noticed the difference in the area, as did England batsman Marcus Trescothick, when they prepared to resume play.

Afridi was found guilty of a level three breach of the International Cricket Council's code of conduct, which refers to conduct against the spirit of the game.

The incident overshadowed what had been a spectacular return to the Pakistan side for Afridi. The 25-year-old had been left out of the first Test in Multan, but hit 92 from 85 balls in Pakistan's first-innings 462.

The ban will effectively rule him out of the third Test and opening two one-dayers against England, all of which take place in Lahore.

Meanwhile, England's hopes of somehow salvaging a seventh successive series victory hung precariously on the collective ability of an exposed middle order to resuscitate a vulnerable 113 for three into something competitive following the hosts' first-innings 462 all out.

Inzamam-ul-Haq (109) had made a more legitimate bid to carry the headlines with his 23rd Test century, equalling Javed Miandad's Pakistan record, to underpin his side's formidable total.

But on the ground where Mike Gatting and Shakoor Rana fell out in one of cricket's most notorious impasses 18 years ago, even Inzamam's admirable innings could not conclude without its own claim to controversy via a third-umpire run-out decision which appeared to be at odds with the laws of the game as defined in Wisden.

There was much for England opener Marcus Trescothick to reflect on as he sought to sum up a day which had seen him carry many of the tourists' hopes of somehow engineering the win they need to keep the series alive until he was third out following a stand of 63 with Ian Bell.

Unsurprisingly, his clearest recollection was of the moment just before 3.30pm local time when the Pepsi Cola machine went bang.

"It was pretty frightening. You don't expect things like that. When you are out in the middle and suddenly a big noise like that happens it shocks you," he said.

Once the initial fears had subsided, though, Trescothick's task as senior partner was to get his and Bell's mind back on the tough job in hand.

"We talked afterwards and said, 'let's take our time and make sure we switch back on' - just as we would after a drinks break or an interval," he said.

But Trescothick himself managed only another seven runs before he was caught, again low enough to cause some controversy, by wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal to end a partnership which went only part way to putting England in feasible health.

Overnight: Pakistan 300-4 ( Inzamam-ul-Haq 80 no, Mohammad Yousuf 78, Shahid Afridi 67 no).

Pakistan First Innings

Inzamam ul-Haq run out 109

Shahid Afridi c Trescothick b Hoggard 92

Kamran Akmal c G O Jones b Giles 41

Naved ul-Hasan b Harmison 25

Mohammad Sami c & b Giles 18

Shoaib Akhtar c Flintoff b Harmison 12

Danish Kaneria not out 4

Extras (b5 lb3 nb15) 23

Total (115.4 overs) ... 462

Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-63, 3-73, 4-201, 5-346, 6-369, 7-403, 8-431, 9-446.

Bowling: Hoggard 22-0-115-2, Flintoff 29-2- 76-1, Giles 20-1-85-2, Harmison 24.4-5-85-3, Udal 13-1-60-0, Bell 7-1-33-1.

England First Innings

M Trescothick c Kamran b M Sami48

A Strauss b Naved-ul-Hasan 12

M Vaughan b Naved-ul-Hasan 2

I Bell not out 36

K Pietersen not out 4

Extras (w1 nb10) 11

Total 3 wkts (36 overs) ... 113

Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-39, 3-107.

To Bat: A Flintoff, G O Jones, A F Giles, S D Udal, M J Hoggard, S J Harmison.

Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 8-1-28-0, Naved-ul-Hasan 10-2-23-2, Mohammad Sami 8-3-22-1, Shahid Afridi 3-0-10-0, Danish Kaneria 7-0-30-0.