Pakistan fast bowling legend Waqar Younis has added fuel to the ball-tampering controversy involving Australian paceman Peter Siddle by insisting it was still rife in the game. Waqar said he recently completed a commentary role in Abu Dhabi where Australia played and "it was happening then".

The first bowler banned for ball-tampering, Waqar had not seen the drama unfold in Hobart on Tuesday. But he was hardly surprised when told of the accusations being hurled by the Sri Lankans at Australian quick.

"To be really honest, I'm not surprised. If people want to close their eyes and say, 'Oh, it's not happening and cricket is very clean', you're kidding me, that's rubbish," News.com.au quoted Waqar, as saying. Waqar was banned and fined 50 per cent of his match fee for lifting the seam off the ball during a one-day game against Sri Lanka in 2000.

"There's some sort of tampering going on. If you go back to the 1960s and 1970s, you'd see players putting Vasoline on the ball, people eating mints and putting their saliva on the ball, or picking at the seam. There is heaps going on," he added.England's John Lever was caught applying vaseline during a series in India. However, he was glad these accusations have not been directed towards any team from the sub-continent.

"All I'm saying, when this happened during our time, I don't know if it was to do with we coming from the sub-continent and we were just too good and people didn't like that. Now this has come. It doesn't really surprise me," said Waqar who was famous for his toe-crushing yorkers and master of the art of reverse swing.

Waqar added: "If you come to the subcontinent and the pitches they play (on), you still see people throwing the ball around on the ground, trying to scuff it up as soon as possible. The England team do it."In 1994, then England captain Michael Atherton was accused of rubbing dirt on the ball during a Test match against South Africa at Lord's after TV cameras caught him reaching into his pocket and then rubbing something on the ball.

Atherton said he used dirt to dry his hands. He was let off with a fine. However, Sachin Tendulkar was suspended for one game by match referee Mike Denness for ball tampering during the second Test of India's 2001 tour of South Africa when TV cameras picked him scuffing the seam on the ball.

One of the most famous ball tampering incidents in cricket was in 2006 during the fourth and final Test match between England and Pakistan at London's Oval. Pakistan's captain Inzamamul Haq was charged with "changing the condition of the ball". Inzamam walked out with his team in protest when England were awarded an extra five runs as penalty for ball tampering resulting in the match being forfeited.

Two years ago, Pakistan's flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi, was banned for two T20 international matches against Australia after being caught biting the cricket ball in a bizarre attempt to readjust the seam. "Sometimes they pick on certain teams. It's good that it's happened in another part of the world other than the subcontinent," said Waqar who took 373 wickets in 87 Tests for Pakistan and formed one of the great pace attacks with left-armer Wasim Akram.

Siddle escaped censure with ICC match referee Chris Broad clearing him of ball-tampering due to lack of evidence. “In the opinion of the umpires, there was no evidence to suggest that the condition of the ball was changed, or that the video or photographic evidence would support a charge under the Code of Conduct, so they will not be laying any charges relating to these incidents,” said Broad issuing a statement through the ICC. But it is unlikely to put a lid on this latest controversy affecting the game.