Lara might face disciplinary action

Brian Lara and Pedro Collins may face disciplinary action from the match referee after issuing controversial statements at the end of the second day's play of the Lord's Test. Both were reacting to Lara's dubious dismissal earlier in the day, when he was given out caught behind by Daryl Harper - replays indicated that the ball had only brushed his pad.

"I still find it impossible not to walk when I know I'm out," Lara said in a statement, but Collins, addressing the press after the day's play, was far more forthright: "I saw the dismissal on tape and everybody saw that it missed the bat," he said. "But the umpires are here to do their jobs and the players have their jobs to do and you can't fault that." According to the ICC's Code of Conduct, players are explicitly barred from commenting on umpiring decisions. Ranjan Madugalle, the match referee, confirmed that neither of the two umpires - Rudi Koertzen being the other - had filed a complaint.

The controversy took some of the sheen off Ashley Giles, who took three wickets, including that of Lara, to finish the day with fine figures of 3 for 58 from 20 overs. "I went up because I thought he hit it and I guess Daryl Harper gave him out because he thought he'd hit it," Giles said, putting forward his take on the issue. "I'm not vain enough to rush straight back upstairs and look at my wickets, so I haven't seen it yet.

"I'm not going to jump off the top of Lord's," he continued, referring to his success on the second day. "I'm enjoying my cricket. I feel I have a lot to offer English cricket still but a lot of it is in the mind. A confident Ashley Giles is certainly going to do better than an Ashley Giles who is down. I still think that I'm probably the best spinning option in the country."