England captain Alastair Cook has supported his teammate Kevin Pietersen, saying that the star batsman was right to clear his name amid allegations that players were using silicone tape on their bats to evade Hot Spot detection during the Ashes.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Pietersen immediately defended himself on Twitter after being mentioned in an Australian news story that claimed that the ICC was investigating whether batsmen were trying to beat the infrared technology used in the Decision Review System (DRS).
Stating that Pietersen was right in quickly clearing his name of the slur of 'cheat' given that he had not done anything wrong, Cook said that even though Pietersen may be laughing at the allegations, he did the right thing in quashing them before it built into something bigger.
According to Cook, the issue about silicon coating on bats to hoodwink Hot Spot is 'a whole load of rubbish' as players have been using fibreglass tape on their bats for years to protect the bats and make them last longer, although he added that he can gets runs without covering his bat and will continue to stick to that.
The report further said that the laws of cricket do not actually prohibit the application of material such as tape onto the bat for the purposes of repair and protection.
