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England - England batsman Jonathan Trott has denied taunting Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal in the first one-day international over the fixing allegations surrounding the visiting team.
Akmal reacted angrily while batting to something Trott said on Friday in England's 24-run win in Durham, forcing the umpires to intervene. There was no further action taken against either player.
Akmal, who made 53 at opener, is also reportedly under investigation for "spot-fixing," the rigging of events within a match.
Trott labeled the incident with Akmal as "a mountain out of a molehill," and said it had nothing to do with the allegations of fixing that have resulted in three Pakistan players being suspended and charged by the ICC under its anti-corruption code.
"Not at all, nothing like that. Whatever is going on in the background is none of our business. We don't talk about it on the field," Trott said. "We don't have any grudges or anything. We just play cricket. The last thing you want is to be dragged down on the field. It's important we project a good image and play within the rules, hard but fair.
"I haven't said anything (to Kamran since). I didn't think there was much need (to apologise) - I didn't say anything that extraordinary."
England captain Andrew Strauss also attempted to take any heat out of a potential spat, saying he felt Trott did not overstep the mark and that the match officials handled it appropriately.
"There weren't any words that were particularly scolding out there, and the umpires did a good job to cool it all down again," Strauss said. "Then the players themselves managed to get on with it, which was important.
"It was nothing I felt particularly concerned about, just one of those situations where a fielder says something and the batsman bites."
Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and opening bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif have returned home after being implicated in a sting by the News of the World for receiving money to bowl no-balls in the test series against England.
The second in the five-game series is at Headingley on Sunday, and Trott says England has to stay focused.
England won the Test series 3-1, the Twenty20 series 2-0 and is now concentrating on fine-tuning its preparations for the World Cup in February and March. The team has 11 more matches before then.
"As far as the England team are concerned, we go about our job - in another four very important games," Trott said. "I myself feel as though, whatever happened in the test series, I've moved on and am looking forward to this one-day series.
"Whatever has happened is a closed case for us. All our jobs are just to play against 11 guys on the field against us. I don't think we can take off-the-field stuff on to it."
Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi also played down the spat and was not unhappy with the incident.
"I don't know what went on," Afridi said. "But I think it's part of the game playing good, aggressive cricket. I always enjoy cricket like this, it's good. But in a positive way, not using bad words."
Afridi also spoke of the challenges facing his players in light of the corruption allegations.
"It's not easy, but everyone is looking to us and we need to keep our image," he said. "The boys are doing their level best and as captain all I want to see is effort from them. If you give 100 per cent you will get good results."
