ENGLAND SUSPECTED BALL-TAMPERING IN PERTH

ALASTAIR COOK admitted England were suspicious that Australia tampered with the ball in Perth during the Ashes series.

Sportsmail revealed Australian opener David Warner told England players at an end-of-series drinks gathering that he indulged in ball-tampering during the hosts’ 4-0 win. Warner was banned for a year by Cricket Australia for his part in the Cape Town scandal, when Steve Smith’s side used sandpaper to rough up the ball. Asked whether England were suspicious, Cook replied: ‘Yeah, a little bit. We did think, in Perth, when the outfield was wet after the rain, that they managed to get the ball reversing. I didn’t see anything. ‘But there’s also that thing about whether reverse swing comes the quicker you bowl the ball. Back in 2005, we had Simon Jones and Freddie (Flintoff), who were quicker than the Aussies. They managed to get reverse swing and the Aussies didn’t, so we have to be very careful there. ‘We were curious in that series at certain moments, but we couldn’t get the ball up to 90mph and they consistently could.’