FLETCHER: What really happened in that bitter row over ball tampering

We were interested in what the Pakistanis were doing with the ball. We could not understand how they were able to get it to reverse swing so early in the innings. With the lush outfields it had been a problem for us all series.

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Using binoculars, we began examining the Pakistanis closely in the field because we thought we had picked something up.

It seemed that for the first 15 to 20 overs of our innings every Pakistan player was shining the ball — on both sides — probably to get rid of the lacquer quickly and make the leather soft. And after that period only a couple of players seemed to be entrusted with the duty.

I became implicated for my actions on that fourth morning when I went to see the umpires before play, but it was not my primary intention to speak about the ball. Instead, I wanted to talk to them about the light.

I went to the umpires room and it occurred to me that I should have a look at the ball. Pakistan had only bowled 18 overs at us the previous evening and I was interested to see what sort of state it was in. Normally you would only look at a ball after 50 or 60 overs.

However, TV umpire Peter Hartley and reserve umpire Trevor Jesty said I couldn't see the ball until Hair and Doctrove had arrived. Before the summer's Test series there had been a meeting in which it was stipulated by the match referee that no one could see the ball without the permission of the umpires.

That surprised me a little because that was the first time such a thing had been mentioned. It obviously meant other coaches were having suspicions about balls in other series.

I went out to begin the warm-ups. Hair then approached me. 'I'm not going to show you the ball,' he said bluntly, 'but we've got a handle on it and are monitoring the situation.' 'No problem, we are more concerned about the start of play,' I replied.

Hair seemed nervous and fidgety. He said that I should not mention this conversation to anyone, which I didn't.

Soon afterwards, match referee Mike Procter came out into the middle. We spoke but I did not mention anything about the ball. It was insinuated afterwards that I was tapping up my mate Procter. It was simply not true.

Amid everything that happened on the day Pakistan refused to continue playing, I especially recall attending a meeting with Andrew Strauss, David Morgan, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Zaheer Abbas (Pakistan's manager) and Shaharyar Khan (PCB chairman). Interestingly, Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, was not there.

At this meeting Hair completely lost his temper. Inzamam, the Pakistan captain, asked him why his side were being accused. 'You know what was going on out there,' said Hair sternly and got up and left.

Doctrove backed him to the hilt but it was Hair who copped all the flak. That was unfair and doubtless it will mean that from now on umpires will not want to make the big decisions. That is not good for the game.