ENGLAND claimed a highly satisfying win over Pakistan in the fifth One-Day International to complete a clean sweep of series wins this summer.
Eoin Morgan hit an unbeaten century while Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad took three wickets each as England bowled Pakistan out for 135 to win by 121 runs.
Victory at the Rose Bowl gave England a 3-2 series win to add to their 3-1 success against the Pakistanis in Test cricket and the 2-0 win in the Twenty20 series.
But the latter part of this summer has been a torturous affair of rumour and innuendo with Pakistan in the dock over spot-fixing allegations.
The story first came to light in the News of the World on the fourth and final day of the fourth and final Test which England won massively by an innings and 225 runs.
The reports surrounded three of Pakistan players - captain Salman Butt, Mohammed Asif and 18-year-old Mohammed Amir - who allegedly agreed to bowl three no-balls to order on the first two days of the Test.
No-balls were indeed bowled at the supposedly pre-determined times by Amir and Asif, and the three players have been provisionally suspended and charged by the sport's governing body, the ICC.
Scotland Yard has also opened an investigation and the players were interviewed by the Metropolitan Police who believe the video evidence to be genuine.
The evidence is now with the Crown Prosecution Service who must decide whether to proceed with the case.
But the incident may not have been isolated. After the third ODI match, the ICC announced it was opening a separate investigation into a suspicious scoring pattern following a tip-off by The Sun.
The ECB confirmed no English players were involved in that investigation either.
However, the squad then became embroiled in the controvery after the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz Butt alleged England had been paid to lose the third ODI.
Butt has presented no evidence for his claim which was strenuously denied by skipper Strauss and the rest of the squad.
Indeed, the England team has now called on Butt to make an unreserved apology or face legal proceedings.
Altogether, the ongoing saga has left a nasty taste in the mouth and made it difficult to enjoy the actual cricket being played.
Even Strauss said the England team had played the last two ODI matches "through gritted teeth".
When it is clear the players are not enjoying the contest, it is more difficult still for supporters which is a shame because, until this controversy, England had enjoyed a fruitful season.
In May, the shortest form of the game landed England their first ever senior ICC World Cup, beating Australia in the Final.
Then, back home, England beat Bangladesh as expected in the opening two Test matches of the summer at Lord's and at Old Trafford, although it was perhaps not as easy as the final score suggests.
At Lord's, Jonathan Trott scored 226 of England's 505 first innings runs while Bangladesh could only respond with 282.
Following on, the Bangladeshis did rather better, scoring 382, mainly down to Tamim Iqbal's particularly impressive 103.
Nevertheless, England knocked off the required runs by tea and Steve Finn won man of the match by taking match figures of 9-187.
The second Test against Bangladesh at Old Trafford was rather more straightforward. England again made a decent first innings total of 419, man of the match Ian Bell with 128 and Matt Prior with 93.
This time, Bangladesh collapsed horribly in successive sessions. With rain having affected the early part of the match, the tourists had an outside chance of a draw on 126-1.
But, despite Iqbal's second century of the series, Bangladesh were all out for 216 by the end of an elongated Saturday evening session.
Having just failed to make the follow-on, the Bangladeshi batsmen wearily took the crease again on Sunday morning.
They were bowled out for 123 in 34.1 overs and England had won a match by lunch on the third day when it had looked evenly matched at tea on the second day.
Limited overs cricket would dominate for the next part of the summer as England took on Australia, smarting from their Test series draw with Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
England took advantage of a vulnerable Aussie team to win the first three of five ODIs.
Morgan starred in the first at the Rose Bowl, scoring an unbeaten 103 as England chased down their target of 268 with four wickets and fully four overs to spare.
In the second match in Cardiff, Stuart Broad took four wickets and helped restrict Australia to 239 which England again chased successfully with four wickets and over four overs in hand.
England's third victory at Old Trafford was much tigher. The hosts won the toss and man of the match Swann took 4-37 as Australia scored 212.
Andrew Strauss scored 87 as England scrambled over the line to win by one wicket with five balls left thanks to Tim Bresnan's unbeaten 14 runs.
Despite the third loss confirming a series defeat for the Aussies, the tightness of the match seemed to have swayed in the momentum in their favour.
Indeed, Ricky Ponting's men somewhat saved face with easy victories in the last two matches, by 78 runs and 42 runs at the Oval and Lord's respectively.
England also seemed to lose focus in a second set of ODIs, this time against Bangladesh.
Having won the first match easily enough, England collapsed to 231 in the second ODI in Bristol, five runs short of Bangladesh's total, despite Trott's best attempts as last man out on 94.
It was the first time the Tigers had beaten England in any form of the game and set up an unlikely decider at Trent Bridge two days later.
England responded well to that unexpected setback by thrashing Bangladesh in the third ODI.
Strauss and Trott scored centuries to set a huge total of 347-7, far too much for the tourists who were out for 203 in 45 overs.
Next up was Pakistan but they proved just as fragile as Bangladesh in losing the first two Tests of the series by being bowled out for their lowest score against England twice in successive matches.
Before this summer, that record low stood at 87 but Pakistan were bowled out for 80 in the first Test and 72 in the second Test to rewrite the record books twice.
In the first Test, Morgan and Prior scored a centuries in each innings as England won by 354 runs.
And in the second Test, Strauss and Trott both hit unbeaten half-centuries as England chased down a target of 118 runs with nine wickets to spare.
Remarkably, the third Test was then won by Pakistan as England struggled this time with the bat.
Out-of-form Alastair Cook hit a welcome second innings century but had little help from his team mates as the hosts were bowled out for 222 to set Pakistan 148 to win.
The tourists looked like strolling to their target on 103-2 but lost four wickets for 29 runs in a middle-order wobble before Umar Akmal and Amir kept the series alive.
But, having produced some fighting spirit, Pakistan reverted to type in a fourth Test which will now be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
It should have been remembered for the record eighth-wicket stand in Test history between Trott and man of the match Stuart Broad whose partnership was worth an outstanding 332 runs.
Pakistan had put England in some trouble having won the toss and England were staring down the barrel at 102-7.
But Trott's 184 and Broad's 169 took the match completely away from Pakistan who then compounded their failure to capitalise by being bowled out for 74.
Following on, there was only a little more resistance in the second innings as Pakistan were bowled out for 174 amid a mournful atmosphere at Lord's after the morning's spot-fixing allegations.
It was no surprise that the dispirited tourists were then turned over four times in quick succession by England - twice in the Twenty20s and then in the first two ODIs.
Then, Pakistan showed some fight for only the second time all summer to win back-to-back ODIs and set up today's decider.
Morgan's century and Swann's bowling kept England's excellent recent record going and the squad should travel to Australia to defend the Ashes in good spirits.
As for Pakistan - they will have to face whatever repercussions come their way if the allegations are proven.
Having done their best to spoil the summer, I do not think I will be alone in being glad to see the back of Pakistan, for now at least.
ENGLAND'S SUMMER RESULTS SUMMARY
Npower Test match series vs Bangladesh
England won series 2-0
First Test (Lord's) England 505 & 160-2 bt Bangladesh 282 & 382 by 8 wickets
Second Test (Old Trafford) England 419 bt Bangladesh 216 & 123 by an innings and 80 runs
Natwest ODI series vs Australia
England won series 3-2
22.06 Rose Bowl England 268-6 bt Australia 267-7 by four wickets (24 balls left)
24.06 Sophia Gardens England 243-6 bt Australia 239-7 by four wickets (28 balls)
27.06 Old Trafford England 214-9 bt Australia 212 by one wicket (five balls left)
30.06 The Oval Australia 290-5 bt England 212 by 78 runs
03.07 Lord's Australia 277-7 bt England 235 by 42 runs
Natwest ODI series vs Bangladesh
England won series 2-1
08.07 Trent Bridge England 251-4 bt Bangladesh 250-9 by six wickets (29 balls left)
10.07 Bristol Bangladesh 236-7 bt England 231 bt five runs
12.07 Edgbaston England 347-7 bt Bangladesh 203 by 144 runs
Npower Test match series vs Pakistan
England won series 3-1
First Test (Trent Bridge) England 354 & 262-9dec bt Pakistan 182 & 80 by 354 runs
Second Test (Edgbaston) England 251 & 118-1 bt Pakistan 72 & 296 by nine wickets
Third Test (The Oval) Pakistan 308 & 148-6 bt England 233 & 222 by four wickets
Fourth Test (Lord's) England 446 bt Pakistan 74 & 147 by an innings and 225 runs
Natwest Twenty20 series vs Pakistan
England won series 2-0
05.09 Sophia Gardens England 129-5 bt Pakistan 126-4 by five wickets (17 balls left)
07.09 Sophia Gardens England 90-4 bt Pakistan 89 by six wickets (36 balls left)
Natwest ODI series vs Pakistan
England/Pakistan won series 3-2
10.09 Chester-le-Street England 274-6 bt Pakistan 250-9 by 24 runs
12.09 Headingley England 295-6 bt Pakistan 294-8 by four wickets (three balls left)
17.09 The Oval Pakistan 241 bt England 218 by 23 runs
20.09 Lord's Pakistan 265-7 bt England 227 by 38 runs
22.09 Rose Bowl England 256-6 bt Pakistan 135 by 135 runs
DOMESTIC SEASON
Nottinghamshire won the County Championship for the sixth time in their history in dramatic style, pipping perennial bridesmaids Somerset in the final session of the final day of the season.
It should have been so much easier for Notts who held a handsome lead with a month of the campaign left.
But successive heavy defeats to Durham and Yorkshire, where they were bowled out for 59, threw the title race wide open and Somerset looked set to capitalise.
Notts were then frustrated in the final round of matches against Lancashire with only 28 overs played in the first three days because of persistent rain in Manchester.
In the meantime, Somerset were on top against outgoing champions Durham at Chester-le-Street, collecting maximum batting points and a first innings lead of 140.
But a failure to bowl out Durham quickly on the final day would cost Somerset who were unable to mount a serious attempt at chasing down 181 after the loss of three early wickets.
With Somerset having had to settle for a draw, the title was back in Notts' hands - but only if they could score 400 runs and then take three Lancashire wickets.
Resuming on 89-2, Notts scored quickly but lost regular wickets after the fifth-wicket partnership of 153 by Adam Voges and Samit Patel had been broken up.
When Andre Adams departed on 390-9, Notts still required 10 more runs for a vital batting bonus point.
Ryan Sidebottom and Darren Pattinson held their nerve to reach 400 and Notts had 17 overs left to take three Lancashire wickets for the title.
Notts capped an excellent performance, considering how limited their time on the field had been, by taking just 30 balls to claim the required wickets.
Sidebottom struck first to remove Karl Brown before Adams took the wickets of Mark Chilton and Shiv Chanderpaul in the same over as the rain started to fall again.
It was a cruel blow for Somerset who had been unbeaten in the Championship since April after two defeats in their first two matches.
Somerset had also lost the Friends Provident Twenty20 Final on account of having lost one more wicket than Hampshire after both teams finished their 20 overs on 173.
And, as if to prove such misfortunes come in threes, Somerset lost the Clydesdale Bank 40 over Final at Lord's to Warwickshire by three wickets.
Thus, the men from Taunton remarkably finished runners-up in all three of this season's competitions.
LV County Championship
Champions: Nottinghamshire 214pts, seven wins
Runners-up: Somerset 214pts, six wins
Relegated: Kent 151pts, Essex 126pts
Promoted: Sussex 235pts, Worcestershire 208pts
Wooden spoon: Derbyshire 138pts
Clydesdale Bank 40
Final: Warwickshire 200-7 bt Somerset 199 by three wickets
Semi Finals: Somerset 312-6 bt Essex 217 by 95 runs
Warwickshire 260-6 bt Yorkshire 257-5 by four wickets
Friends Provident Twenty20
Final: Hampshire 173-5 bt Somerset 173-6 on fewer wickets lost
Semi Finals: Hampshire 157-4 bt Essex 156-7 by six wickets
Somerset 182-5 bt Nottinghamshire 117-4 by three runs (D/L)
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