Wasim all fired up for his 100th Test

Wasim Akram becomes only the third Pakistan cricketer in history to play in 100 Test matches when he turns out for his country for the second Test against England on Wednesday.

The Pakistan all-rounder, who last week hinted he may retire after the Old Trafford Test match in England next summer said today it was an honour to have notched up his century of Tests and that he would only quit when his natural talent started to decline.

"The 16 years I've had have gone so fast and it's a great honour for me to represent Pakistan for the 100th time at Test level, but it's up to other people to decide and tell me if I've still got it or not," he said.

"I think I've still got another year or two in me, but lets see how I go in the next two or three months. I will look at it tour by tour - I don't want to be just in the side for what I was, I want to play because I'm performing."

His sense of pride in cricket and country suffered a serious blow with the recent match-fixing allegations after he was named in Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum's inquiry and had a £1,500 fine slapped on him for failing to co-operate with the investigation.

The inquiry also stated that Wasim "cannot be said to be above suspicion" but this, the 34 year-old former Pakistan captain said, had merely served to fire him up.

He claimed 15 wickets in Pakistan's three-Test series in the Caribbean earlier this year and a further eight in the three-Test series in Sri Lanka, while simultaneously preparing to mount an appeal against the fine before the December 20 deadline.

"These allegations have given me an extra edge. It came back again because of all this," said Wasim.

"I always said that if I was going to play on for another two years then I wanted to work hard and play and not just be there because of my name, bowling a few slow overs each time.

"I have worked very hard in the last few series or so and I want to carry on doing that for another couple of years.

"My whole career has been tainted by this report and I will be appealing against the fine. I don't understand it because when they called me I was there in the court, when they asked me I gave an answer and I don't understand why they say I didn't co-operate.

"I just don't understand why this hasn't all been resolved and my first priority now is to clear my name by going through the proper channels and once I've done that I'll decide how long I'm going to continue playing."

The powerful left-arm seamer, regarded as one of the best exponents of reverse swing in the world, first played against England during their last tour of Pakistan in 1987. Since then, he has taken 51 wickets in 15 Tests against them and lost just one match in that sequence.

His partnership with Waqar Younis is also one of the most productive on record, the pair claiming 472 wickets in the 49 Tests they played together compared to Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose who took 421 in the same number of appearances.