'It was concluded with regret that there will be no play on the fifth day'

England were last night awarded the final Test against Pakistan after hours of high-level meetings at the Oval resulted in the tourists forfeiting the match following a dramatic ball-tampering controversy.

Four hours of talks between officials from both sides, the umpires and the International Cricket Council ended in the final Test of the series being the first in history to be forfeited.

Unhappy at being penalised for ball-tampering, a tense situation ended with both Pakistan and umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove failing to take the field after tea. After play was called off at 6.13pm, hours of debate resulted in the match being forfeited and awarded to England ­ handing them a 3-0 series win.

A joint statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board, Pakistan Cricket Board and the ICC, confirmed the historic and farcical conclusion.

The statement read: "After lengthy negotiations which resulted in agreement between the two teams, the ICC match referee and both ECB and PCB to seek to resume the fourth Test on Monday, it was concluded with regret that there will be no play on the fifth day. The Test between England and Pakistan has therefore been forfeited with the match being awarded to England.

"In accordance with the laws of cricket it was noted that the umpires had correctly deemed that Pakistan had forfeited the match and awarded the Test to England. At a meeting between the captains, ECB, PCB and ICC match referee, the players, match referee and boards indicated that they would offer to resume play if at all possible on day five.

"The umpires having awarded the match to England and consulted the Pakistan captain, reconfirmed their decision to award the match to England."

The statement upholds the umpires' decision earlier in the day after the situation unfolded in front of an astonished capacity crowd at the Oval.

At 2.30pm, Doctrove and Hair decided the state of the match ball had been altered by someone on the fielding side as the tourists pushed for victory. Under the laws of the game, the umpires awarded five penalty runs to England, despite protests from the tourists. However, after tea, the tourists failed to emerge from their dressing room at the appointed restart. The umpires waited five minutes in the middle before walking off to the bemusement of the crowd and England batsmen Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell.

The Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer last night said Hair had entered the Pakistan dressing room after they had first failed to reappear and asked Inzamam if he was forfeiting the game. Woolmer said Inzamam had countered by asking why the ball had been changed but Hair had refused to discuss the matter and left.

Under Law 21.3, if the incident is not resolved and the umpires believe Pakistan are refusing to play on, they can award a match to the other side.

David Morgan, the chairman of the ECB, was then seen talking to PCB officials to see if they could resolve the crisis, and those meetings finally ended nearly four hours after the finish of 6.13pm. The statement added that the penalty runs for alleged ball-tampering were under review by the match referee Mike Proctor, who will submit his report in due course.

The world governing body also confirmed they would be issuing a separate statement concerning any future disciplinary action which may be taken against Pakistan, although that is unlikely to be done today as the International Cricket Council offices are shut in Dubai because of a public holiday.

Final day fans at the Oval to get their money back

The 12,000 people with tickets for today's final day at the Oval will not lose out financially after being denied a potentially exciting finale to the fourth Test, while those who sat bewildered through yesterday's afternoon farce will also be partially reimbursed.

In a move that will cost around £400,000, David Collier, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, said: "The ECB expresses great regret that the actions taken resulted in spectators , television viewers and radio listeners being deprived of play.

"In light of the reduction in play on day four, the ECB has determined that spectators who bought tickets should be eligible to a 40 per cent refund on their ticket and a full refund will be paid to all spectators who purchased tickets for day five."

Oval scoreboard

Pakistan won toss

Fourth day of five

England ­ First Innings 173 (Umar Gul 4-46, Mohammad Asif 4-56).

Pakistan ­ First Innings

(Fri overnight: 336 for 3)

Mohammad Yousuf c Read b Hoggard128

350min, 236 balls, 18 fours

*Inzamam-ul-Haq c Strauss b Harmison31

77min, 62 balls, 5 fours

Faisal Iqbal not out58

141min, 90 balls, 8 fours

ÝKamran Akmal c Collingwood b Harmison15

17min, 13 balls, 3 fours

Shahid Nazir c Hoggard b Mahmood17

55min, 31 balls, 2 fours, 1 six

Umar Gul lbw b Panesar13

25min, 26 balls, 1 four, 1 six

Danish Kaneria c Trescothick b Harmison15

32min, 24 balls, 1 four

Mohammad Asif c Cook b Harmison0

2min, 2 balls

Extras (b4, lb9, w11, nb8)32

Total (560min, 129.5 overs)504

Fall contd: 4-379 (Inzamam-ul-Haq), 5-381 (Mohammad Yousuf), 6-398 (Kamran Akmal), 7-444 (Shahid Nazir), 8-475 (Umar Gul), 9-504 (Danish Kaneria), 10-504 (Mohammad Asif).

Bowling: Hoggard 34-2-124-3 (nb6) (4-0-13-0; 13-2-53-1; 4-0-11-0; 12-0-42-2; 1-0-5-0); Harmison 30.5-6-125-4 (nb1, w11) (6-1-38-0; 3-1-7-0; 5-0-24-0; 16-4-50-2; 0.5-0-6-2); Mahmood 27-3-101-2 (nb1) (6-1-24-1; 4-1-20-0; 5-0-15-0; 3-0-15-0; 2-1-1-0; 7-0-26-1); Panesar 30-6-103-1 (1-0-3-0; 15-3-49-0; 3-0-8-0; 11-3-43-1); Collingwood 6-0-29-0 (4-0-12-0; 2-0-17-0); Pietersen 2-0-9-0 (one spell).

England ­ Second Innings

M E Trescothick c Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Asif4

12min, 10 balls, 1 four

*A J Strauss lbw b Danish Kaneria54

122min, 83 balls, 9 fours

A N Cook lbw b Umar Gul83

207min, 146 balls, 11 fours

K P Pietersen c Kamran Akmal b Shahid Nazir96

158min, 114 balls, 13 fours, 2 sixes

P D Collingwood not out26

93min, 66 balls, 3 fours

I R Bell not out9

31min, 23 balls, 1 four

Extras (b8, lb3, nb10, pens5)26

Total (for 4, 313min, 72 overs)298

Fall: 1-8 (Trescothick), 2-115 (Strauss), 3-218 (Cook), 4-277 (Pietersen).

To bat: ÝC M W Read, S I Mahmood, M J Hoggard, S J Harmison, M S Panesar.

Bowling: Mohammad Asif 17-1-79-1 (nb6) (6-1-28-1; 3-0-12-0; 5-0-30-0; 3-0-9-0); Umar Gul 14-1-70-1 (nb1) (5-0-25-0; 3-1-12-0; 6-0-33-1); Mohammad Hafeez 4-1-13-0 (1-1-0-0; 1-0-3-0; 2-0-10-0); Danish Kaneria 29-6-94-1 (nb2) (26-5-85-1; 3-1-9-0); Shahid Nazir 8-1-26-1 (nb1) (4-0-18-0 4-1-8-1).

Progress: Third day: 50: 52min, 11 overs. Bad light stopped play 7.07pm. close: 78-1 (Strauss 37, Cook 33) 18 overs. Fourth day (min 98 overs): Rain delayed start until 11.15am. 100: 106min, 24 overs. 150: 160min, 36.2 overs. Lunch: 183-2 (Cook 67, Pietersen 44) 44 overs. 200: 200min, 47.1 overs. The umpires changed the ball and awarded five penalty runs after 56 overs at 230-3 (Pietersen 69, Collingwood 5). 250: 259min, 60.1 overs. Bad light stopped play 3.47pm 298-4 (Collingwood 26, Bell 9) 72 overs. Tea taken.

At 4.43pm the umpires took the field then went off again. At 4.54pm the umpires and England batsmen took the field, the umpires removed the bails and stumps, then went off again. At 5.24pm the Pakistan team took the field and went off again. At 6pm it was announced that there would be no further play. At 10.12pm Test officially forfeited by Pakistan. England win series 3-0.

Strauss's 50: 111min, 69 balls, 9 fours. Cook's 50: 125min, 93 balls, 6 fours. Pietersen's 50: 72min, 57 balls, 9 fours

Umpires: B R Doctrove (WI) and D B Hair (Aus).

TV replay umpire: P J Hartley