ANDREW STRAUSS last night described South Africa’s behaviour as ‘‘malicious’’, in the ball-tampering row which erupted in the Newlands Test – and was still refusing to go away.

Strauss remained unhappy with South Africa’s decision to go public on the third evening of the match with their concerns over Stuart Broad and James Anderson’s management of the ball.

They chose not to make an official complaint the next morning, and the International Cricket Council subsequently declared the matter closed.

But Strauss said: ‘‘I do think to a certain extent that the South Africans announcing it to the media – without being totally clear in their minds what they were going to do, whether they were going to put in a formal complaint – is a little bit malicious.

‘‘Ball-tampering is a very sensitive subject – and if you’re going to make allegations, you’ve got to be very clear or confident that is exactly what the other team were doing.’’ Strauss conceded England must be very careful from now on – after Broad stopped a straight drive with the sole of his studded boot, and Anderson was pictured running his fingers over the ball – but he insists his team have done nothing wrong.

‘‘We’re not particularly happy about it, and I strongly refute those allegations,’’ he added. ‘‘I really don’t feel there was any concerted effort on anybody’s part to alter the state of the ball. At no stage did the umpires feel they had any concerns about the state of the ball.”