Pakistani police fire tear gas outside ground

Two people were injured when Pakistani police used batons and tear gas to disperse cricket fans trying to gain entrance to the sold-out one-day series decider against England in Rawalpindi on Monday.

Police resorted to gas when the crowd started pelting them with stones only an hour after the start of play in the last of the three-match series.

"Our strategy was to hold all those people who were without tickets but once they went beserk we had to use tear gas," deputy police commissioner Saeed Wahla said.

Roads to the stadium were blocked to control the fans, many of whom said they had valid tickets. Others complained they had been unable to find tickets except on the black market.

"All our attempts to get tickets failed. They were being sold in the black market and we can't see the match," said Mohammad Waseem, who came from the suburbs of Rawalpindi in a last-ditch effort to get into the stadium.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman General Tauqir Zia had publicly apologised for mismanagement after ticketing problems at the first match in Karachi but the situation was repeated in Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Inside the stadium it was the English fans who should have been rioting as their team slumped to 97 for five in the 25th over, with the Pakistani spinners doing the damage.

Mail Cricket Editor