Cook backs Pietersen as he rubbishes 'cheat' claims

England captain Alastair Cook said a report players in the ongoing Ashes were using silicone tape on their bats to avoid nicks being detected by "Hot Spot" technology was "rubbish".
The allegations were made by Australia's Channel Nine television yesterday, with England batsman Kevin Pietersen said to be one of the players under suspicion.
But Pietersen took to Twitter on Wednesday to slam the report as "horrible journalism" and "hurtful lies", with Australia captain Michael Clarke insisting none of his players were involved in the practice.
And Cook, whose side have retained the Ashes at 2-0 up with two to play ahead of the fourth Test in Chester-le-Street starting Friday, had no problems with Pietersen's use of social media.

"When you get called a cheat I think you quite rightly want to clear your name pretty quickly when you haven't done anything wrong," Cook said Thursday.
The opening batsman added: "Players have been putting tape on their bats for years. I just think the actual story is a load of rubbish in terms of why people are putting tape on their bats. Fibreglass tape on their bats, that's been going on for years. That's just to protect the bat to make it last longer.

"I think that whole story we have to rubbish it because it is rubbish."
Nine said the International Cricket Council (ICC) general manager of cricket, Geoff Allardice, would be investigating the matter in Chester-le-Street.

However, the ICC insisted Allardice was coming over solely to speak to the teams regarding their concerns over the Decision Review System, a source of repeated controversy this series, and said it was not investigating any alleged attempts by players to "cheat" Hot Spot.
During the Ashes some nicks have not shown up on Hot Spot, with the system's inventor, Warren Brennan, admitting the technology can struggle to pick up edges from fast bowling.