"As soon as I saw the headlines, I raced into the umpires and those were their words, 'nothing to worry about, it's a beat-up, you're absolutely fine'"
Friday 29 December 2017 16:12, UK
England coach Trevor Bayliss has dismissed claims that his side were ball-tampering on day four of the fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne.
Television images showed James Anderson pressing his thumb into the ball and with England getting the ball to reverse swing early, there were suggestions that the tourists had illegally altered its condition.
However, Bayliss told reporters there was nothing in the claims and that the match officials had confirmed that no action would be taken.
"Well, it's a beat-up," he said. "As soon as I saw the headlines, I raced into the umpires and those were their words actually, 'nothing to worry about, it's a beat-up, you're absolutely fine'. That's as much as I know.
"There was absolutely nothing to worry about. You're able to clean the ball and that's what we were doing.
"He was cleaning the ball and if he was trying to rough it up, he was trying to rough the wrong side up, that was the shiny side his thumb was on. The umpires have got absolutely no problem with it at all."
With England in a position to push for their first win of the series, Bayliss suggested that the Australian media were trying to create a distraction and put pressure on the away side.
"We've had a good couple of days and there hasn't been a lot of positive pressure from their point of view so there's been a bit of Pommie-bashing there, we're used to that I suppose," he added.
"We knew when we came here it was going to be 24 million versus 11, we've just got to laugh it off as part of the game. You've got to put up with it."
All-rounder Mitch Marsh provided the Australia perspective and indicated that the home side believed there was nothing untoward in Anderson's actions.
"There were no comments made in the changing rooms," he said. "I haven't seen anything inappropriate."
