• The Ashes 2013

Pietersen slams Hotspot cheat claims

Hotspot failed to show that Kevin Pietersen caught an edge when caught behind at Old Trafford © Getty Images

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Kevin Pietersen has slammed reports in the Australian press that claim he may be adding silicone tape to his bat that prevents edges from showing up on Hotspot.

Pietersen was dismissed on the final day of the drawn third Ashes Test at Old Trafford after being caught behind, but asked for a review. Hotspot failed to flag up any contact between bat and ball, but Pietersen was given out regardless.

Snickometer - not used as part of the DRS process - later supported the umpire's decision, registering a sound as the ball passed the bat.

Australian television station Channel Nine raised the theory that Pietersen had covered his bat with silicone tape to fool Hotspot, on the basis that the tape would not be picked up by the technology.

With the ICC set to talk to both teams about the use of DRS before the fourth Test, Pietersen reacted angrily to the suggestion that he was cheating the review system.

"Horrible journalism yet again!" Pietersen tweeted. "My name brought up in hotspot crisis suggesting I use silicon to prevent nicks showing! Such hurtful lies.

"I am never afraid of getting out! If I nick it, I'll walk.. To suggest I cheat by covering my bat with silicon infuriates me.

"How stupid would I be to try & hide a nick when it could save me on an LBW appeal, like in 1st innings where hotspot showed I nicked it."

Australia skipper Michael Clarke denied that any of his players were using silicone tape to fox Hotspot, and said he had no concerns that the England batsmen were doing so either.

"I find the accusation quite funny," he said. "I can't talk for everybody but if it is the case we are talking about cheating, I can tell you there is not one person in the Australian change rooms who is a cheat. That's not the way we play cricket. I know no one is going to the extreme of saying put this on your bat because it will help you beat Hotspot.

"I've used fibreglass facing on my bats since I got my first bat from Slazenger when I was 12. I used a fibreglass face on the bat because we couldn't afford two or three or five or 10 cricket bats.

"Because modern bats are pressed and are soft, you put a cover on it to protect the bat and make it last longer. A lot of players use that since I've been playing cricket.

"I didn't know there was such a thing you could do to hide nicking the ball on Hotspot. I wouldn't think it would make any difference. I've never heard of anyone doing it."

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