England coach Trevor Bayliss on Friday rejected accusations that pacer James Anderson indulged in ball-tampering on the penultimate day of the fourth Ashes Test against Australia after footage emerged of him appearing to scratch the shiny side of the ball, reported BT Sport.

The incident was spotted in real-time by Channel Nine commentary panel, with cricketer-turned-pundit Shane Warne saying: "I'm not sure you are allowed to use your fingernail there" before his co-commentator Michael Slater adding: "That's interesting, you can't get your nail into the ball. That's a no-no."

More Baggy Green legends soon joined in on the act, with former pacer Mitchell Johnson questioning how the 'ball [was] reversing under 10 overs' and Mike Hussey opining that Anderson may have some explaining to do to match referee Ranjan Madugalle.

But the quartet's accusation was dismissed by an ICC spokesperson, vindicating Anderson, although Bayliss remains peeved over the incident, which he dubbed routine 'pommie-bashing' by the Australian media.

"We've had a good couple of days and there was no too much positive press for them, so it was a bit of pommie-bashing I suppose," said Bayliss. "But we are used to that. We knew when we came out it was going to be 24 million versus 11, and we just have to laugh it off."

Regarding the incident itself, the tourists' coach said Anderson was merely trying to clean the ball — an understanding he says the umpires even shared.

"As soon as I saw it during the rain break, I went to the umpires to find out what was going on," Bayliss said in an interview with BT Sport. "And in their words it was a beat-up. You're allowed to clean the ball and that's what we were doing. There was no problem at all, they said."

England have so far had a disastrous Ashes series, losing all three Tests, with the ongoing fourth one heading towards a draw.