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Reuters

Australia's Channel Nine television yesterday defended its reporting of the use of silicone tape on cricket bats to confuse Hot Spot technology in the Ashes series, saying it had not made allegations about players cheating.
The International Cricket Council has told the inventor of Hot Spot he will need strong evidence to suggest players were deliberately trying to cheat the system.

Amid increasing controversy during the five-test Ashes series over the inconsistency of the Decision Review System (DRS), the network reported on Wednesday that the ICC was investigating the matter.

	Michael, it’s time you investigate why players are using fibreglass tape on … bats

	WARREN BRENNAN, HOT SPOT INVENTOR
The ICC, the sport's governing body, issued an immediate denial and said the report was "totally incorrect".
England captain Alastair Cook on Thursday described the claims as a "blatant fabrication" and demanded an apology from the network.
"We have been reporting on the story and have never made any allegations about players cheating," a Network Nine spokeswoman said. "Concerns about the use of tape on bats reducing the effectiveness of Hot Spot have come from the creator of the technology, Warren Brennan.
"He raised these concerns with the ICC. As a result, extensive testing has been carried out by Brennan and the ICC has conceded that there may be an issue worth further investigation."
The ICC has confirmed Australian Brennan raised concerns with them this week over the effect of bat coatings on the technology, but that he was warned against suggesting players were deliberately trying to cheat the system.
Brennan has not made any public comment and refused interviews, but he sent a tweet on Monday to former England captain Michael Vaughan that said: "Michael, it's time you investigate why players are using fibreglass tape on the edges of their bats."
Geoff Allardice, the ICC's general manager of cricket operations, has said Hot Spot would continue to be used for the rest of the Ashes series and he had met Brennan in Melbourne last week to discuss the series.
"He followed up with an e-mail to me on Monday suggesting that they'd looked at some clips and that coatings on the bat might have been dulling down the Hot Spot mark," Allardice said.
"He made us aware of that. On Tuesday, he did some testing and informed us of that. He also advised us that he was intending to make a media statement.
"We talked about the timing of that. It's his company, his product, he's free to say whatever he likes in the media. We were expecting to see something either yesterday or today," he added.
"We didn't really talk about the inference that players were doing it deliberately to try and beat the Hot Spot. We did warn him that if he made a statement along those lines, if the inference was players were trying to cheat Hot Spot he would need some strong evidence to support that.
"There is no evidence to support that assertion and certainly from the comments of the teams you can see that they don't believe that happens."
Allardice said the ICC would consider changing its playing conditions to prevent the use of such tape on bats, but said "a lot more evidence" would be required before any move was made.
The Ashes series has been dogged by controversial umpiring decisions and there have been several occasions when Hot Spot has failed to pick up edges.
England are 2-0 up in the series and have clinched the Ashes ahead of the fourth test, which started in Durham on Thursday.
Alastair Cook survived some probing Australia bowling to guide England to 57 for one at lunch on the first day of the fourth Ashes test at Chester-le-Street yesterday.


Australia TV network defends Ashes 'cheating' report

Durham Castle provides a dramatic backdrop as Alastair Cook plays a shot off the bowling of Shane Watson yesterday. Photo: AP

England's Tim Bresnan plays a shot bowled by Australia's Nathan Lyon on the first day of the fourth Ashes series. Photo: AP

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Channel Nine station says it did not allege players cheated by using silicone tape to confuse technology, but inventor raised such concerns


Australia's Channel Nine television yesterday defended its reporting of the use of silicone tape on cricket bats to confuse Hot Spot technology in the Ashes series, saying it had not made allegations about players cheating.


Australia TV network defends Ashes 'cheating' report

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Channel Nine station says it did not allege players cheated by using silicone tape to confuse technology, but inventor raised such concerns

Channel Nine station says it did not allege players cheated by using silicone tape to confuse technology, but inventor raised such concerns