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Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has been found guilty of ball-tampering in the first Test against Zimbabwe.

Match referee Clive Lloyd said the umpires had reported the matter to him and there was agreement that Shoaib had changed the condition of the ball illegally.

The match ended in a 119-run victory for Pakistan on Tuesday with a day to spare, with Shoaib taking seven wickets in the match.

"The umpires and I inspected the ball and it was clear to us that it had been scratched," Lloyd said. Lloyd confirmed the guilty player was Shoaib, adding "we have severely reprimanded him". He said no further action would be taken. The Pakistani team management was not immediately available for comment. Only once has a player been banned for ball-tampering. Waqar Younis, ironically Shoaib's captain in Harare, was given a one-match suspension last year.

He was seen on television lifting the seam during a one-day international against South Africa. Law 42.3b states it is "unfair for anyone to rub the ball on the ground for any reason, or interfere with any of the seams or the surface of the ball."

It is also illegal to "use any implement, or take any other action whatsoever which is likely to alter the condition of the ball." (BBC)

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