Melbourne (December 29, 2017): England have been assured by the umpires for the fourth Ashes Test at Melbourne that they are not under suspicion of ball tampering, despite claims in the Australian media that James Anderson may have tried to scratch the ball.
However, both teams have been warned about the grey-area practice of deliberately throwing the ball on the bounce to the wicket-keeper in the hope of scuffing it up.
Anderson running his thumb-nail along the quarter-seam of the ball during the Australian second innings drew stern comment from a number of Australian ex-players.
But upon learning of the accusations, England coach Trevor Bayliss rushed into the umpires’ room, where S Ravi and Kumar Dharmasena told him that no wrongdoing was suspected.
“It’s a beat-up,” Bayliss said after the fourth day’s play, which ended with Australia 103-2, 61 runs behind England.
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