MUMBAI - The Hot-Spot inventor may have claimed that the application of Vaseline to the edge of a bat can have no significant effect on the technology, but according to the former England left-arm medium pace bowler, John Lever believes that the application of Vaseline is against the Spirit of the Cricket. The man, who himself was accused of using Vaseline to retain shine on the ball during his team's visit to India in 1976-77, says exclusviely over telephone from England, "I had heard the rumour involving VVS Laxman using this substance (however, Stuart Broad, the hat-trick boy in this Test did confirm, after checking with Laxman's bat that the batsman had not used anything of that sort on his bat) but nothing has been proved yet, and if the umpires had found anything of this sort, it would have certainly been against the Spirit of Cricket". "This would mean the umpires would need to check all bats in the dressing rooms prior to the commencement of the game," Lever jokingly added. John Lever made peace with Bishan Singh Bedi for his own controversy. "I met Bedi some ten years ago when he came here to play some exhibition match and made peace with him. We shook hands," he said. Bishen Singh Bedi, the under pressure captain of the Indian cricket team was not convinced with Lever's theory that the Vaseline was to keep sweat out of the eyes. He said Lever had used unfair means to shine the ball. The English paceman's habit of rubbing the ball over his eyebrows frequently was recorded. "The ball was sent for tests and nothing was found as alleged", Lever said. "Bedi's team was 2-0 down in the series after heavy defeats in Delhi and Kolkata Tests and therefore he was more concerned with this incident". "Our team physio (Bernard Thomas) had no Vaseline in his medical kit and we, (Lever and Bob Willis) were suffering from sweat falling in our eyes. We were naively suggested by the team physio to apply Vaseline- medicated strips of gauze above eyes to divert sweat from forehead away. In play these were found to slip, and Willis removed his. Eventually I also removed mine and lay the gauze on the ground near the stumps where it was noticed by the umpires and Indian team and that are how the controversy erupted," Lever concluded. According to the Wisden, the Bible of cricket, the MCC authorities did not deny the presence of the offending strip of gauze, but offered an explanation for its use. Their version of how it came to be discovered by the umpire did, however, conflict with that of Reuben.