Seeking to bury the jelly-bean incident as a thing of past, England spinner
Monty Panesar said cricket should be played in the right spirit.
Panesar said the jellygate in the second Test at Trent Bridge was "unintentional"
and should not affect the game's spirit in future.
"I think the incident, probably something that happened accidentally.
It was unintentional, it was just that during the drinks break accidentally
a jellybean went on the wicket.
"What is more important -- what we all want to see --
is cricket played in the right spirit. Obviously you want to be competitive
but the game must be played in the right spirit," Panesar told reporters.
Panesar said though India were tough opponents and had gone
1-0 up in the series, his team is not putting pressure on themselves for the
final Test at the Oval.
"India are a strong team and it will be tough but if we
can play good cricket like we have been doing there is a chance we will do well.
"If we try and put too much importance on this Test and
put pressure on ourselves it may not get the best out of us. All we can do is
shift the momentum from the first Test and second innings of the second into
the third," he said.
Disappointed at being excluded from England's Twenty20 squad
for the World Championship in South Africa, Panesar said on the positive
side it would give him a chance to prepare for the series against Sri Lanka.
"My character is that I like to be involved in all forms
of the game -- you want to be part of things like the Twenty20 squad. But missing
out does give you an opportunity to prepare for the winter (tour to Sri Lanka)."
he said.
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