And now to another story involving winners and losers and a conspicuous lack of facts.

I'M NO CHEAT — Daily Express (UK), 8th August, 2013

PIETERSEN FURY AT 'CHEATING' CLAIMS — The Telegraph (UK), 8th August, 2013

Last Thursday the papers in London went wild over claims that one of England's star batsmen, Kevin Pietersen, had been cheating at the gentleman's game of cricket.

Back in Australia, the previous evening, our own Channel Nine News had pointed an accusing finger.

Peter Overton: Howzat, the players found a way to beat cricket technology. Good Evening. We begin our broadcast with breaking news. A scandal is emerging tonight from the Ashes that will have far reaching and potentially damaging implications for international cricket. — Channel Nine, News, 7th August, 2013

The nub of Nine's story was that English and Australian batsmen might have found a way of beating Hot Spot, the technology used by umpires to settle whether or not a batsman has hit the ball and should be given out.

As Nine's cricket correspondent Roz Kelly explained:

Roz Kelly: It's understood that silicone tape is applied to the edge of the bat, and concerns centre around Kevin Pietersen's dismissal in the second innings in Manchester. He was given out caught behind and there was clearly a noise but nothing showed up on Hot Spot. — Channel Nine, News, 7th August, 2013

Kelly told viewers that the International Cricket Council was investigating.

And while she didn't actually use the cheat word, it's the message many viewers would have got.

Channel Ten's The Project certainly did and was soon suggesting in words and pictures that Pietersen's guilt was not really in doubt

Adam Hawse: Basically it means the nick won't come up and you can see that with Kevin Pietersen's dismissal in the third test. And it caused a lot of controversy, and the ICC is now looking into it and in fact they've travelled to Durham ahead of the fourth test to make some inquiries. — Channel Ten, The Project, 7th August, 2013

Almost immediately, Kevin Pietersen took to Twitter to deny the claims, calling them Horrible Journalism and Hurtful Lies.

Australia's cricket captain Michael Clarke also poured cold water on the story.

And within hours the International Cricket Council had issued a statementto say:

These media reports are totally incorrect ... — ICC Media Release, 7th August, 2013

By next morning, England's cricket captain Alastair Cook was telling reporters that the claims were absurd and blatantly untrue, and adding:

Alastair Cook: I think an apology is due because it's such a blatant fabrication of anything. — ABC News 24, 9th August, 2013

SO ... where did this story come from? And on what evidence was Pietersen branded a cheat?

Was there TV footage of him applying the silicone tape?

Were there photos of the offending bat?

Then surely there must have been some first-hand testimony from someone who had seen him do it?

Well, no.

It appears that Nine's story relied on Warren Brennan, inventor of the Hot Spot technology, who was under pressure to explain why his controversial system wasn't working.

Brennan had conducted tests with tape on bats and thought he'd found the answer. But the ICC then met him and was not convinced .

We didn't really talk about the inference that players were doing it deliberately to try and beat the hot spot... 'I think we did warn him that if he made a statement along those lines, if the inference was that the players were trying to cheat the Hot Spot system he would need some strong evidence to support that. There is no evidence to support that assertion ...' — Canberra Times, 9th August, 2013

After that the story fell apart.

On Friday, Brennan issued a statement blaming bat manufacturers for applying protective tape to the edge of modern bats.

It was their fault he said that Hotspot isn't working, and all tape should be banned.

On ABC Grandstand this was greeted with derision.

Alec Stewart: I mean it's just ridiculous. Because if you're going to produce something like Hot Spot, you've got to make sure you've done all the testing before you take it to the ICC to be used for test match cricket. So I played in the 80s, 90s, early 2000s and bat tape and coatings that go on bats have been around for 30 or 40 years so for him to suggest that you should not have a coating or a cover or any tape on your bat is laughable and I'd be embarrassed if I was associated with that company, with that statement. Jim Maxwell: Well he probably is a bit embarrassed because the technology's not working 100%. — ABC, Grandstand, 10th August, 2013

Someone else who should be embarrassed is Channel Nine News.

They would also be advised to do rigorous tests on their claims of cheating before they launch them on the public.

And next time they point the finger in such a damaging way they really ought to show some hard evidence.

And if you want more on our stories tonight, you'll find it on our website.

But for now that's from us. Goodbye.