Former England captain Alastair Cook has revealed in his autobiography that Australia opening batsman David Warner once told him about using the strapping on the hand to accelerate deterioration of the ball during a first-class match. In his book 'The Autobiography' released on September 5, Cook wrote about an incident after Australia won the 2017-18 Ashes when he and England players shared a few beers with the opposition team then led by Steven Smith.

"David Warner, a couple of beers into his celebration, mentioned that he used substances attached to the strapping on his hand to accelerate the deterioration of the ball during a first-class match," Cook wrote in his book, according to 'The Guardian' newspaper. "I looked at Steve Smith who shot a glance that said: 'Ooh, you shouldn't have said that'." On the Australians using sandpaper to tamper with the ball during the infamous Cape Town Test in March 2018, Cook said Smith's team had gone too far. "Stuart Broad sums it up pretty well and says they got the ball to reverse swing in that Ashes. Why change what you've been doing?