Sports Letter: Skewed response

Sir: When Mike Atherton was asked during the televised press conference if he had rubbed anything from his pocket on to the ball, he said 'No'. Television pictures clearly showed otherwise.

If a cricketer from any other country had been caught doing what Atherton did, the men at Lord's (and your cricket correspondent) would have seen things very differently. And I suspect the muted South African response would have been slightly different as well, if they had lost the Test.

Yours sincerely,

ANIL NINAN

Inverness

28 July