Ian Chappell opines Marcus Trescothick's lifting the lid on 'peppermint-gate' is a silly move aimed at selling his autobiography.

Trescothick this week admitted to shining the ball with help from mints during England's memorable 2-1 Ashes victory on home soil in 2005.

The tactic encouraged reverse swing from pacemen Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones that tormented Australia's top order.

Chappell, a 75-Test veteran, was not impressed with Trescothick airing his polishing technique but refused to condemn the practice.

"I think it's pretty silly of Marcus Trescothick to come out and say it but obviously he's trying to sell some books," Chappell told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Tuesday night.

"I'll think you find that bowlers have been doing things to the ball since cocky was an egg.

"One of the reasons why that happens is the legislators always seem to come down on the side of the batsmen.

"We saw recently with the ludicrous situation with Kevin Pietersen changing hands and becoming a left-hand batsman, they came down on the side of the batsman.

"They never seem to come down in favour of the bowlers."

Chappell went on to say that the 2005 Ashes series would not have been as memorable without the reverse swing the English bowlers were able to extract.

"Swinging the ball is terribly important to the game of cricket," he said.

"The series in 2005 is certainly in my opinion the most memorable Test series that I've seen.

"So much of that had to do with the fact the ball was swinging. If the ball is swinging then the scores aren't going to be too big."