'Social media would have ruined him': KP

Kevin Pietersen has claimed former England captain Mike Atherton's career would have been "ruined" by a ball-tampering scandal had social media existed in the 1990s.

Atherton was fined after being accused of using dirt in his pocket to alter the condition of the ball during the Lord's Test against South Africa in 1994, sparking widespread condemnation, but ultimately not the loss of his job.

However, having witnessed the furore and outcome of the scandal which has engulfed Australian cricket in recent weeks, Pietersen pointed to the role of social media.

"Seeing Steve Smith crying on TV the other day, I really felt for him and the others caught up in the Australian ball-tampering controversy," he wrote in a column for The Spectator.

"They've made mistakes, but the whole thing has shown the power of social media. The anger and the animosity from the Australian public, and the global community, wouldn't have been as severe without Twitter and Facebook.

"If social media had been around for Mike Atherton's ball-tampering scandal in 1994, he would have been ruined."

Atherton was later fined 2000 pounds for failing to disclose the dirt to the match referee but remained as England captain despite calls for his resignation.

Speaking to Sky Sports recently, he said the deliberate nature of Australia's actions, allied to the fact it involved a junior team member in the 25-year-old Bancroft appearing in just his eighth Test, made it a different case to his own.

"I think what makes this more of a problem for Steve Smith is that this is a rather premeditated effort and then getting the young kid, Cameron Bancroft, to do it," Atherton said.

"Plenty of people have been done for it in the past, but this one has a slightly different smell."

Atherton however also questioned whether ball-tampering deserved its reputation as a major cricketing sin.

"It has gone on since the year dot ... the level of moral indignation is always slightly out of kilter with the offence," he continued. 

"If the condition of the ball is changed, you get a five-run penalty and change the ball. That hardly sends the message that this is a heinous crime.

"The (International Cricket Council) code of conduct has four levels and this is level two. If the game thinks ball-tampering is a very serious offence, give it a level four."

Pietersen, who scored 8181 Test runs for England, is now retired having seen his international career end prematurely in 2014 after being told his services were no longer required.

In his second coming as a T20 freelancer, the former England captain played four seasons in the KFC Big Bash League with the Melbourne Stars before quietly calling time on his career following the recent Pakistan Super League.

Having conducted something of a love-hate relationship with the media during his playing days, he admitted he enjoyed some of the coverage of his retirement, and in particular a tribute from current director of England cricket Andrew Strauss.

"Still, I was flabbergasted to read Andrew Strauss say I was the best cricketer he'd played with," he wrote. "He was the one who made me stop!

"A couple of my buddies were fuming, but I laughed and told them not to worry about it. There's so much water under the bridge now. It's gone."