Ball-tampering claims are 'rubbish': Cook

England captain Alastair Cook has labelled ball-tampering claims against his side following the third Test win over Pakistan as "an absolute load of rubbish".

On the eve of the fourth and final Test of the series, to be played at The Oval in London (8pm Thursday AEST), Cook found an ally in opposing skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, who dismissed the allegations and confirmed that no complaint had been made from his side, backing up coach Mickey Arthur's earlier comments on the matter.

The issue arose after Pakistan's dramatic collapse on the final day at Edgbaston, when England's pace attack ran through the visitors with reverse swing to engineer a dramatic late win.

Reports from Pakistani media later surfaced, which included vision of England fielders shining the ball in the field, though there didn't appear to be any evidence of illegal behaviour.

"It's a load of rubbish," said Cook. "Someone showed me the clip on Twitter of 'Rooty' (Joe Root) shining the ball, and it’s just shining the ball, let's be honest.

"He's shining the shiny side on his trousers. It's an absolute load of rubbish as far as I'm concerned. It's a little sideshow, hopefully it stays there.

"As I've been saying since the beginning of the series, both sides should be commended for the way they've played the series and hopefully we can stick to it."

Misbah looked to turn the attention to the quality of England's pace attack as both captains attempted to downplay the matter.  

"Reverse (swing) happened and sometimes on the last day it happens because the pitch gets so dry," he explained.

"On the fifth day, you can bowl cross seamers and the way it happened at Lords … We were also a little concerned about the way it just happened after lunch. It wasn't doing anything on the fourth day and suddenly it started.

"The fifth day is different, it can happen. The umpires are there, the match referees are there – we do not want to … I'm not there to judge those things.

"They are very good bowlers, they are a good side, especially (James) Anderson and (Stuart) Broad. These guys know what to do and how to take care of the ball.

"On a last-day pitch they how to (get it) to reverse by bowling cross-seam bouncers. It was a concern the way it just happened but we are not looking any further than that.

"We don't want to get into those things. The game is over and credit should be given to the England team and the way they bowled (on the final day) and got us out.

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"That was a super spell by all the bowlers especially after lunch. That's happened, it's gone. We should not talk about that and just think how we could have played better."

Cook said that his team had not been distracted by the "sideshow" as they look to seal a series they lead 2-1.

A win for the hosts would mean they hold all nine bilateral trophies in Test cricket.

"It's so far far-fetched that it's nonsense. I don't think it will affect anyone, it certainly hasn't affected our changing-room," he added.

"As I said, the way both sides have played, there have been little flash-points but we've been talking about cricket for three Test matches, which is the first time (that's happened) in a series I've played in against Pakistan, so hopefully we'll be talking about cricket at the end of this next Test."