SYDNEY: England pace bowler James Anderson has described as ‘ridiculous’ accusations that he was invo­l­ved in tampering with the ball during the drawn fourth Ashes Test against Australia in Melbourne last week.

The 35-year-old was shown on television appearing to try to scuff up the ball with his thumbnail on the fourth day on Friday and local commentators seized on the footage as the match meandered to a draw.

England coach Trevor Bayliss, however, labelled the accusations as ‘Pommie bashing’ while Anderson scoffed at the suggestions.

“It escalated quite qui­ckly, didn’t it?” Anderson said in comments published by Britain’s The Telegraph newspaper. “Ridiculous, but what we’ve come to expect.

“[I was] getting dirt off the ball. They’d watered the square so the footholes on the old wickets had mud. We went to the umpires to make sure they were happy with it.”

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2018