Imran offers public apology to Botham

Imran Khan changed his tune again yesterday and admitted that his defence - a plea of justification - had failed. The dramatic climbdown came on the ninth day of the High Court cricket libel trial, as the real battle between England and Pakistan got under way at Lord's.

The former Pakistani captain withdrew his defence that his allegations of ball-tampering against Ian Botham were justified and offered the former England all-rounder a public apology. The withdrawal was as much of a surprise as the claim itself, which had been sprung on the plaintiff just days before the case opened.

The plea of justification had relied on two clips of video footage of Mr Botham during test matches against India and Pakistan in 1982, which Imran claimed showed Mr Botham tampering with a ball. Mr Botham is suing Imran for an article published in the Sun newspaper in May 1994, in which he claims to have been accused of ball-tampering, which he says he has never done.

Imran told Mr Justice French and the jury that he accepted Mr Botham's evidence that in the India match he was pushing the ball back into shape. His counsel, George Carman QC, had argued that Botham had been using his fingernails to lift or scratch the seam. "I have no reason to doubt Ian when he says he was repairing the ball," said Imran. "I am prepared to go along with that. If he says he was squeezing the ball, then fine, he was squeezing the ball."

Asked by Mr Carman about incidents during the Pakistan Test, when, according to Mr Botham, his reason for throwing the ball back to wicket- keeper Bob Taylor was so that he could dry it with his gloves, Imran said he had never heard of this practice before. Mr Carman had suggested that Mr Botham's intention had been for Mr Taylor to remove lacquer from the ball.

"Everyone immediately uses the trousers, which is a much more simple thing than throwing it to the keeper who has rubber in his gloves," said Imran. "But having heard Ian Botham and Bob Taylor, if they say that is what happened, I will accept that they were drying the ball," he added.

In his opening speech, Charles Gray QC, counsel for Botham and Lamb, had described the justification plea as a "last-ditch attempt" by Imran. Yesterday, he said he was angry that allegations that had received the widest publicity were only now being withdrawn. Imran replied: "At no stage have I ever called Mr Botham a cheat. It is technical ball-tampering. I have never regarded it as cheating."

Mr Gray said that as a result of the plea of justification being put on record, a "stream of witnesses" had to be called. Imran said: "Yes, it is because of their evidence that I dropped it. I have no reason to call them liars."

In addition to Mr Botham's action against the Sun article, he has joined Allan Lamb in suing Imran over an "offensive personal attack" on them in India Today magazine, which they say called them racist, uneducated and lacking class and upbringing. Imran, who denies libel, says his words were taken out of context.

During his cross-examination by Mr Gray, Imran said he was aware of increased racism in England. "Had I, of course, not married Jemima, and I didn't know her when I held those views, I would always have wanted my children to grow up in Pakistan because children are very sensitive," he said. "But now I'm married to an English girl, of course things are different. I would like my child to know both cultures."