I was livid, but I was wrong to row with Rana

People still ask whether I have any regrets about Faisalabad and I suppose the one thing that will always niggle is that we lost a very good chance to win a Test match and square the series.

Chris Broad had scored a top-class ton and our first innings total of 292 was more than enough to force victory on a spinning pitch. Miandad, of course, knew this with Pakistan 106-5 in reply.

The flashpoint itself, over whether or not I was moving a fielder behind Salim's back, may seem trivial, but it was the culmination of bad blood between the two camps that had started during the home series that summer when Pakistan had objected to the appointment of English umpire David Constant.

Pakistan had been superb hosts in the World Cup in the autumn - they couldn't do enough for us - but when the Test series followed immediately after, the excellent practice facilities and local net bowlers suddenly disappeared.

We were offered nets that weren't so good, areas to relax with no shade and warm drinks while Pakistan enjoyed all the home comforts they would expect. Things were also being made difficult for us on the field with a series of debatable umpiring decisions which, rightly or wrongly, we believe cost us the First Test in Lahore. Some English batsmen were coming back to the dressing room close to tears in that game and after it the whole squad felt home may be a better place to be.

It wasn't as if we were the only team to encounter trouble touring there. New Zealand and India had walked off the field in Pakistan, and a year after our visit the Australian board had to use all their powers of persuasion to get Allan Border's team to complete their tour.

When we arrived in Faisalabad we were already carrying a lot of baggage, so to speak, and the Shakoor Rana intervention was the straw that broke my back. The events that followed seemed unreal at times as tour manager Peter Lush drove back and forth to Lahore trying to broker an agreement.

I began to realise how serious the situation had become when it was suggested the stand-off was damaging relations between the two countries and could jeopardise a big trade deal.

In the end, there was no option but to give the written apology, and by then so much time had been lost the game was destined for a draw. If we're looking for positives I'm sure it hastened the move towards neutral officials which has been a big success, along with the TV umpire to rule on close decisions.

And with a match referee now overseeing each international, there is little chance of a similar situation getting out of hand.

Whereas there will always be disagreements and disputes in Test cricket, I'd like to think that Faisalabad will never be repeated - and I don't think it will be.

I've only bumped into Mr Rana once since, when a mischievous tabloid flew him over to England on the pretence of publicising his book, but in fact to set up a photo opportunity as I arrived to play a game in Worcester. It was a shock to see him walking towards my car with cameramen in tow, but I tried to ignore it. Unlike Shakoor I've never been keen to re-live the incident - although it was going to be impossible to avoid this week.

Would I ever return to Faisalabad? Definitely. It may not be the most attractive of towns, but the hotel we stayed in last time was one of the very best, and I have got some good memories of the place including taking the second of my four Test wickets there when I had Zaheer Abbas lbw for 68.

We did, however, suffer from food poisoning and queuing for the loo.

That's one of the few times the England batting order has been determined by who hasn't got his trousers around his ankles, at least in modern times. Touring on the sub-continent is happily much more comfortable these days and, with luck, the only runs that will inconvenience England this week are those scored by Pakistan.