(E.J. Salisbury is BPL's Beijing-based correspondent on assignment in the UK)

This war has been a long time coming. But it has to be fought. Until a remedy is found for its apparently innate corruption, Pakistan does not belong in international cricket. Nor does it belong in much else beyond its awful borders.

This afternoon at Lords under a lovely London sky, England and Pakistan began a fourth one-day match in the shadow of a ghastly allegation. The appalling Mr Ijaz Butt - chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board - gave a cowardly interview to a television reporter. He said: "It's common talk in bookie circles..." that English players took huge amounts of money to deliberately lose the previous one-day match. He didn't have the courage to say: "I think English players are corrupt." No, not our oily old Ijaz. It had to be done in a typically slimy way.

Despite this outrage, the atmosphere at the ground between the English and Pakistani fans was not especially tense. Put aside for now the fact of British-born fans of Pakistani descent leaping and shouting in a frenzy of adoration for the Pakistani team, or cheering at England's misfields. (Perhaps they would prefer life in Karachi or Lahore.) Sitting one row behind your correspondent, they grew louder and louder as the overs passed during the Pakistani innings and as the runs came and the boundaries were struck. All their chanting was in Urdu, some generating a response from other Pakistanis in the grandstand of "Allahu akbar!" Scary stuff.

Only once, after England dismissed a Pakistani batsman, did England answer back. A tough-looking English man in his sixties stood up, turned to the young Pakistani cheer squad and said loudly "Where's the noise now?" We all had a good chuckle at that. The proto-jihadi cheer squad stayed mute, disappointed at the dismissal.

But not all is so unwell with British Pakistanis or whatever they call themselves. Sitting next to this column were two young girls, one in a turquoise hijab and a black, neck-to-toe robe. The other, older girl wore jeans and an expensive cotton shirt. As the match progressed, the older girl carefully explained to the younger girl - in beautifully accented English - various points of the game, including some learned comments on the Pakistani batsmen's strokes and the English field placements. This was one smart cricket fan.

Pakistan made a fine total of 265, including a blistering last few overs by Razzaq and Gul. In the last over, Razzaq hit five fours in a row. Of course the idiot boys in the cheer squad behind us reached new heights of lunacy. But so glorious was the batting even the English fans were excited.

Pakistan's effort this afternoon proves little. They batted with confidence and some style. They amassed a very decent score. But in the current atmosphere good scores tend to highlight the suspiciously bad scores.

To the serious issue - what to do about Pakistani players and the bookmakers' bribery? Ijaz Butt will answer for his calumnies against England's players in a British court. The English team will, quite rightly, sue for defamation. In the unlikely case His Oiliness has the guts to defend the suit he will face cross-examination. That will be an entertaining afternoon.

The cricket world will get on just fine without the Pakistani team. Let them play Afghanistan, Kenya, and Zimbabwe until they can do the impossible and prove a negative - that they are not hopelessly corrupt. The bigger issue is the failure of the ICC to act decisively to stamp out match-fixing. More and more that body is looking like the UN General Assembly - a cesspit of nasty regimes scratching each others' backs and using the institution to do nothing but hurl abuse at the rest of us.

The young lady fan in the hijab and her learned friend deserve better.