Alastair Cook admits England suspected Australia tampered with the ball during the Ashes in Perth
Alastair Cook has admitted England suspected Australia tampered with the ball during the Ashes – and singled out the third Test at Perth as the scene of the crime.
Sportsmail revealed last month how Australian opener David Warner told England players at an end-of-series drinks gathering that he indulged in ball-tampering during the hosts’ 4-0 win.
Warner was later banned for a year by Cricket Australia for his part in the Cape Town cheating scandal, when Steve Smith’s side used sandpaper to rough up the ball.
Alastair Cook (right) says England suspected Australia tampered with the ball during the Ashes
Asked whether the England players suspected anything illegal was going on during the Ashes, Cook replied: ‘Yeah, a little bit. We did think, in Perth, when the outfield was wet after the rain, that 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 the ball. Back in 2005, we had Simon Jones 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.’
Australia's David Warner speaking after cricket was rocked by the ball-tampering scandal
Steve Smith, along with Warner, have both been banned from playing cricket for a year
Cook wouldn’t be drawn on the severity of the punishments handed out to Steve Smith, David Warner (both banned for a year) and Cameron Bancroft (banned for nine months).
But, speaking at an event to celebrate the return of Yorkshire Tea national cricket week (June 18-22) with charity Chance to Shine, he added: ‘I just think it was a real reminder of what people want to watch in sport. It was the same as cycling, and the match-fixing in one sense: when people buy tickets to watch sport, they want to see that it’s done in a fair way.
‘It was an amazing public outcry, and sometimes under the pressure of playing, when it feels so important to you because it’s your profession, your livelihood, sometimes winning or losing can take over. ‘It’s wrong for anyone here in the cold light of day to criticise because people do make mistakes.’