Gatting came to regret his actions

Gatting, meanwhile, was serious that Shakoor had suggested that he was cheating by moving a fielder behind the batsman's back while Eddie Hemmings was in the process of bowling.

Gatting eventually apologised and the Test continued - minus a day.

But England players who were there have always maintained that Shakoor was egged on by the Pakistan captain Javed Miandad because Pakistan were in danger of losing that Test.

For his part, Gatting remained wary of Shakoor's motives whenever the olive branch was offered in his direction over the next 13 years.

Gatting reacted derisively last year when it was reported to him that Shakoor wished to meet up with him in Pakistan to bury the hatchet at last.

Certainly, to this observer, Shakoor appeared to enjoy his notoriety.

Media disappointment

When I approached him last November in Lahore, on behalf of the BBC, he was keen to record his reminiscences of Faislabad as long as he was paid handsomely.

He was to be disappointed.

Gatting - who was sacked from the England captaincy in 1988 for an alleged dalliance with a bar maid during the Test match - eventually acknowledged that he ought to have lost the captaincy earlier for cricketing reasons.

Namely the day he lost his temper with an umpire on the field of play in a Test match.

Last November, there was relief on all sides when Shakoor Rana announced he wouldn't be travelling from his home in Lahore to observe the Faislabad Test match.

The media circus was disappointed that Shakoor seemed at last aware the game of cricket needed a dignified line to be drawn under one of the saddest episodes in Test history.