ENGLAND'S time-wasting during the last hour of the drawn Test at Cardiff proved to be a talking point rather than a genuine controversy. As the Laws stood, the umpires were powerless to intervene -- and that was the bottom line.

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The Law 42 on unfair play covered time-wasting by batsmen in section 10, but umpires Aleem Dar and Billy Doctrove could only make matters worse. They would have eaten up more time to the fury of the Australians if they had followed the laid-down procedure. Firstly an umpire has to give a single, final warning to the batsman and then inform his umpiring colleague, inform the other batsman and inform the fielding captain.

If time-wasting happens again, the umpire has to go through the same series of consultations and signal to the scorers five penalty runs, eating up a further minute or two. And the batting captain must be informed when practicable, so Andrew Strauss would have been justified in approaching the field of play to inquire what was happening. More time lost, especially if the captain pretends not to fully understand the situation. Ponting would have been jumping up and down with annoyance.

The sanction that umpires do not have is the power to stop the clock. So nothing could effectively prevent England messing about -- the team physiotherapist and 12th man twice ran on to tend the batsmen. In one case they needed to convey a message that time, and not overs, was the essence of the game.

Though Ricky Ponting and his Australia side were frustrated, they knew they did not dominate the moral high ground. At the last pair they bowled almost 12 overs in 37 minutes, despite the apparent time-wasting. This was a much much higher rate than normal simply because it suited them. Usually the rate is less 'honest' and more sluggardly to ensure that the bowlers send down no more than the day's proscribed minimum of 90 overs.

I mentioned these points in the BBC Television 24 Hours news studio on Monday after the excitement at Cardiff had died down, recalling a lovely example of time-wasting at Trent Bridge in 1976. The West Indies were racing towards a declaration to get England back to the crease in the evening, but at one end the batsman was frequently distracted by a flock of gulls from the nearby river feeding on the outfield in his sight line.

The time taken repeatedly shooing these birds away took many minutes off playing time, which was fine for England. It was only afterwards that it emerged that fast bowler John Snow had taken some cake crumbs in his pocket after tea and scattered them surreptitiously near his bowling mark. All very subtle and imaginative.