ICC satisfied Englanddid not tamper with ball

DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) are satisfied England did not tamper with the ball in their second ODI against Pakistan amid a swirl of social media speculation.

Unverified footage from Saturday’s match, which England won by 12 runs, highlighted pace bowler Liam Plunkett moving fingers over the ball whilst preparing to run in and vision of the ball with one side looking extremely rough.

The ICC is believed to have seen the video and spoken to Plunkett, who alerted them to the footage, and are not concerned that anything untoward occurred. “The ICC is aware of the unverified video that is currently circulating on social media,” the ICC said in a statement on Sunday.

“The match officials are comfortable that there was no attempt to change the condition of the ball or any evidence of this on the over by over examinations of the ball throughout the game.”

The video does not show any evidence of wrongdoing by Plunkett or any other player and the condition of the ball, if accurately depicted, would appear to be consistent with one bashed around during such a high-scoring game.

The ball used in the Royal London Cup semi-final between Hampshire and Lancashire on the same Rose Bowl pitch the following day did not look dis-similar after 44 overs and 230 runs being scored.