Former England captain Alastair Cook has admitted that the England team was suspicious of the Australians tampering with the ball in the Ashes 2017-18.
Both Steven Smith and David Warner along with opening batsman Cameron Bancroft have been banned. The trio were sanctioned by Cricket Australia (CA), for the ball tampering saga in South Africa.
Smith and Warner have been handed a 12-month ban while the latter has been handed a nine-month ban.
However, all three of them are permitted to play in overseas domestic competitions.
Following the bans imposed by CA, Smith and Warner’s multi-million dollar contracts for the Indian Premier League (IPL) were also scrapped.
On the other hand, Bancroft who was supposed to play with Somerset in the county season has also been excluded from the squad.
Before Cook’s statement about being suspicious of the Australian team during the Ashes, former England captain Nasser Hussain also questioned the Australian integrity during the Ashes which England lost 4-0.
The story unfolded when Smith and Bancroft admitted that they did plan to change the condition of the ball. Pertinently, Bancroft used yellow tape during the third Test at the Newlands in Cape Town.
Cook said, “We did think in Perth, when the outfield was wet after the rain, they managed to get the ball reversing. I didn’t see anything. But there’s also that thing about whether reverse swing comes the quicker you bowl. Back in 2005 we had SimonJones and Freddie Flintoff, who were quicker than the Aussies – they managed to get reverse swing and the Aussies didn’t, so we have to be very careful there.”
“We were curious in that series at certain moments but we couldn’t get the ball up to 90mph and they consistently could, so it’s easy sitting here. No one really understands [reverse swing].”
Talking about his future, Alastair Cook said that the hunger to be successful and score more runs is still there.
“My job never changes. It’s to score runs at the top of the order. If someone taps me on the shoulder and tells me they don’t want me to open for England, it is going to hurt at this precise moment because I want to carry on,” Cook stated.
“The hunger and desire is still there but no one has a God-given right to play for England. You have to score the runs to justify your place. Since I’ve come home I’ve started to look at my preparation. Have I got it right? Do I need to change things? Because that’s the right way to do it. I will never sit here and say I’ve cracked the game or will ever be perfect,” he concluded.