However, Cook believes punishments should be more stringent and admitted he would be in favour of life bans for anyone found guilty of matchfixing.
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He said: “The players are very much aware of it. I’m sure it will be reiterated over the next couple of days. H e is a special player, and I will have no problem selecting him”.
Speaking ahead of the third and final Test against Sri Lanka, on Wednesday (June 8), Cook reiterated that he wouldn’t have problem in facing Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir since he got “punished for what he did”.
Mohammad Amir is poised to make his return to Test cricket at Lord’s next month, scene of the 2010 spot-fixing scandal, after reportedly being granted a United Kingdom visa for Pakistan’s tour of England this summer. Pakistan will play four Tests, five one-day internationals and a one-off Twenty20 against England during their three-month tour with the first Test taking place at Lord’s on July 14.
“He’s served his time and the ICC have got their guidelines to what the punishments are for certain crimes and people have their opinion on that”. Who knows what the wicket will produce – the last [few] games here against Sri Lanka have been draws.
Australia and New Zealand broke new ground with a day/night Test at the Adelaide Oval late previous year and Cricket Australia have now confirmed another such match against South Africa, also in Adelaide, for November.
“I feel my game is in a good place, I’m moving well”.
It is a testament to the enduring appeal of Lord’s that there will be no repeat here of the empty stands which have provided such a bad look for Test cricket in the opening two games.
“The quality of the ball is vital for day-night Test cricket”.
“On my two occasions with the pink ball, it didn’t do any of that – and then it nipped all over under twilight”.
England again resisted the temptation to give a debut to Jake Ball, the Nottinghamshire paceman, with the under-performing Steven Finn retained to play on his Middlesex home ground.
Sri Lanka are sufficiently confident in their preparations for captain Angelo Mathews and four of his compatriots to skip their final practice session.
Convincing wins by an innings and nine wickets at Headingley and the Riverside respectively, have seen Alastair Cook’s men surge into an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-Test campaign.
Yesterday, mixed weather dealt the teams opposite hands and it therefore made little difference in any case that Mathews was absent by the time an afternoon downpour sent Sri Lanka inside. We couldn´t celebrate – we didn´t celebrate – it was all a very odd time. “But if we want to be the best team in the world, these are the types of games we need to play better in”.
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Sri Lanka must choose between Shaminda Eranga, still free to play despite tests on his suspect action, and their uncapped left-armer Chaminda Bandara.
