Woakes demands clarity on 'grey area' post 'mintgate' row

England pacer Chris Woakes on Thursday put forward his views on the recent 'mintgate' controversy involving South Africa stand-in skipper Faf du Plessis, saying the International Cricket Council (ICC) should come out with some clarity on the 'grey area' involving the ball-tampering issue.

Du Plessis was fined 100 percent of his match fee for breaching Article 2.2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct, but was cleared to play the ongoing day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval.

The 32-year-old was found guilty after hearing representations and evidence from the umpires as well as Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) head of cricket John Stephenson and ICC match referee Andy Pycroft after the international cricket body ruled that broadcast footage of him shining the ball with residue from a sweet in his saliva amounted to a breach of the governing body's code of conduct.

Following that, a British tabloid had accused that some footages of the drawn Rajkot Test indicated that India skipper Virat Kohli appeared to shine the ball using residue from a sweet.

Kohli will face no inquiry, however, because the mandatory five-day window in which an investigation must begin under the ICC protocol had passed before the footage came to light.

However, the England team did not file any complaint.

As per the ICC regulations on ball tampering, if a team wants to lodge a complaint about ball tampering by a rival team or its player; it has to be done within five days of the completion of the Test match.

Speaking about the same, Woakes, who is likely to make a comeback in the third Test of the ongoing five-match series, said, "Everyone has said that they try to shine ball in similar fashion. The fact that Faf du Plessis has been fined, the ICC is trying to make a stance on it. But I suppose obviously it's quite a grey area."

"Hashim Amla said about him having chewing gum in his mouth almost throughout the day. Is that deemed as wrong? I am not sure. I think it needs to be clarified what exactly the problem is. I mean if you are seen exactly putting a sweet on it, you obviously know that it is against the rules," he added.

The England pacer, however, said that there is no need for Alastair Cook's team to change their own methods.

"Occasionally at drinks breaks, the guys will come and have sweets or mints - just to freshen up and keep the energy going," Woakes said. "But nothing from the sweet is allowed to go on the ball, or is supposed to. So therefore we don't do that."

"It's just a sugar boost really, I suppose. In the middle of the day, there's only so many fluids you can take on board - so many bananas you can eat - so during a tough session, when the opposition are 200 for two, the odd lolly here or there is quite nice," he added.

The 27-year-old pacer further said: "If you're seen putting a sweet on to the ball, I think that obviously is against the rules. But everything else seems to be a little bit of a grey area."

"We won't be changing anything we do when we go out there this week. There are cameras always on you and always has been ... there's nothing we need to change," he asserted.

Speaking about the mood of the team after a huge 246-run loss in the Vizag Test, Woakes said, "The side is pretty good. We had a really good result at Rajkot. I suppose the toss is quite important here, particularly with the pitch deteriorating and spinning towards the back end."

"We do have to win here obviously to make sure that we win the series and we are looking to do that. So, everyone is in good spirit," he added.

The two sides will play their third match from Saturday at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium in Mohali.