Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer [Images] has hit back at former match referee Barry Jarman, saying the Australian's charge that South Africans tampered ball under his coaching during a limited overs match against India were a piece of "fiction".

"I'm the coach. What does he think - that I teach ball scratching," Woolmer said.

"I just do not understand why Barry Jarman has said this," he was quoted as saying by BBC Sport.

Jarman, who was the TV umpire in that match, has accused Woolmer's South Africa of lifting the seam and scratching their ball with their fingernails but said he simply got the ball changed and did not take the issue any further.

"I don't ever remember a ball being taken off after the 16th over. I surely would have remembered it.

"Go and ask the two umpires in the game I'm supposed to have done this. They will say they don't know anything about it," he said.

The Australian's commnets had come after Pakistan were penalised for alleged ball-tampering by umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove during the fourth Test against England [Images].

"South Africa and India met five times during the tournament nine years ago, but he declined to identify the particular match to which he was referring," the report said.