Trescothick's mint claims raise Aussie eyebrows

Former England opener Marcus Trescothick's revelation that he illegally used breath mints to help his bowlers gain extra swing during the 2005 Ashes series has received a mixed reaction in Australia.

Trescothick admitted in his new autobiography that his chief job in the field was to shine the ball using "a bit of spit and a lot of polish" with the aid of the breath sweets.

But former Australian swing bowler Terry Alderman, who had an exceptional record in England, poured cold water on the claims and questioned Trescothick's motives for going public with the story.

"He has retired now and he has just written that to sell the book," Alderman told AFP on Wednesday.

"I've never heard of that working. How much difference could a breath mint make?"

England stunned the cricket world with a 2-1 win in the 2005 Ashes, their first series win against the Australians in 18 years.

The reverse swing achieved by England's bowlers, led by Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones, was a major factor in the upset victory.

Former Australian pace bowler and current national selector Merv Hughes said the tactic was unethical, but there was little point worrying about it.

"If he's come out and said that he's used it, yes, it's unethical," he told the Melbourne Age newspaper.

"Yes, he got away with it, good luck to him. You can't change the result of the Test series, so it's no good worrying about it."

Another former Australian swing bowler, Damien Fleming, told the Melbourne Age the revelations took some of the gloss off England's win.

"For me, it doesn't totally tarnish it because what I did like about the England bowlers in that series was their wrist release, and for the first 10 overs Jones and Flintoff got the new ball to swing beautifully, but from the 20 to 45-over mark, that is where the mints are helping. "And they bowled better reverse swing than us.

They definitely got an illegal advantage over us in those overs. "At least now we know why England lost the (next) Ashes: they lost their minty guy."

BRISBANE, Aug 26, 2008 AFP