Indian hand in ball tampering row

London: England's suspicion that Pakistan may have tampered the ball in the infamous Oval Test could be traced back to a class on ball-tampering given by a NASA scientist last year.

Aerodynamics expert of Indian origin Dr Rabi Mehta has used wind tunnels at NASA's Ames Research Centre, California, to study the flight of tampered cricket balls and had even briefed the England team on the issue, a report in Scotland on Sunday said.

Mehta says his experiments have proved the theory that scuffing one half of the ball causes it to swing at lower speeds than an untampered one.

The scientist met Troy Cooley, England's fast bowling coach at the time, to brief him on what causes cricket balls to swing. He had also lectured senior officials of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on the effects of tampering.

"It is possible the meetings fuelled suspicion among English players that Pakistan cricketers had tampered the ball during the Oval Test two weeks ago," the daily quoted Mehta as saying.

Umpire Darrell Hair kicked up a storm when he penalised Pakistani side five runs after claiming they had tampered with the cricket ball in the Oval Test.

"On my last trip to England in December I met Troy Cooley and others from the ECB. Troy invited me out to their academy in Loughborough where I gave some lectures and some tips on swing bowling and reverse swing. We talked about ball tampering, what it is and how it helps," Mehta said.

A spokesman for the ECB confirmed Mehta had met Cooley and had discussed ball tampering.