Director of cricket Peter Moores today defended Sussex's bowlers after they were penalised for ball-tampering.

Warwickshire were given five penalty runs on the first day of the Championship match at Horsham after umpires Peter Willey and Barrie Leadbeater changed the ball during the afternoon session.

However, Moores insisted that the marks on the ball were due to the abrasive nature of the pitch at Cricketfield Road.

Rival captains Chris Adams and Nick Knight and the ECB were informed of the umpires' decision.

Any further offence would see the bowler in action at the time banned from bowling for the rest of the innings, even if he was not the player who had tampered with the ball.

Moores said: "As far as we're concerned the ball wasn't deliberately tampered with by our bowlers, it's not what we are about. We're into scoring runs, taking wickets and trying to win games."

I understand that the umpires became aware that the condition of the ball had altered as early as the seventh over.

The decision to change it was made during the afternoon session after Leadbeater noticed that its condition had altered during an over, but Moores insists his bowlers are innocent.

"The wicket is very abrasive and our bowlers were saying after five or six overs that the ball was getting marked and scratched quickly," he said.

"The umpires thought we went over the mark, swapped the ball and gave Warwickshire five penalty runs. That's their opinion and there's nothing we can do about it.

"We're not going to let it distract us, we're just going to get on with the game. There are far more important things to worry about."

The new regulations regarding ball-tampering were introduced four years ago and the umpires are obliged to mention the incident in their match report.

Moores added: "I don't know what they are going to put into their report, but they are the custodians of the game and we have to abide by what they decide."

New regulations regarding ball-tampering were introduced four years ago but instances of penalty runs being imposed on teams are rare.

Middlesex submitted a videotape of Surrey in the field during their match at Lord's earlier this season to the ECB to check for possible evidence of ball-tampering, which was strenuously denied by Surrey. The ECB said yesterday that the footage was inconclusive and closed the matter.

There was no respite on the pitch for Sussex this morning as Warwickshire raced towards maximum batting points.

Ian Bell passed 150 and he was well supported by Tony Frost in an unbroken seventh wicket stand of 99 after an hour of the second day.

Frost did offer a chance in the third over when wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose could only get one glove on a thick edge off James Kirtley when the batsman had made 23.

Bell's 150 came up in the 111th over and included 19 fours and a six.

Kirtley opened the attack with Mohammad Akram but it wasn't long before Mushtaq Ahmed was brought on for his first spell at the Railway End.