Jump to content

England do tamper with the ball... but it is legal


Recommended Posts

After a week of allegations and refutations about ball tampering it is time to put the record straight: England do ‘tamper’ with the ball. But within the laws of the game. They have perfected the ‘natural’ deterioration of the ball so that it reverse swings for them earlier, and to a greater degree, than for any other team. They are so good at it that opponents, and umpires, are naturally suspicious. But they are guilty of no crime. If a ball is changed today at the Oval when England are in the field, as it was last week against Sri Lanka, they will just have been penalised for their own excellence. Reverse swing - movement in the air in the opposite direction to conventional swing - is a baffling phenomenon. All that we do know for sure is that a ball roughed up on one side and kept meticulously smooth on the other will curve in the air. Any bowler with a decent action can do it, though some are better at it than others. If you scrape one side of a brand new ball on concrete or anything abrasive it will soon start to reverse swing. In one-day internationals the ball never makes contact with something as hard as concrete of course – unless the bowling is very bad. But England have found various means to get the ball to deteriorate naturally in dry conditions. The current batch of white Kookaburra balls – used both in the Champions Trophy and domestic English cricket - have been found to ‘cut up’ quicker than in previous years, possibly due to a thinner coating (or inferior quality) of leather. After only a few overs on a dry pitch such as Edgbaston or the Oval, there will be already be a number of scuffs and abrasions. England exacerbate this with an assortment of cross-seam or wobble seam deliveries - the ball pitching on the outer casing rather than the seam - and with throws on the bounce to the keeper. This is all entirely legal. Using these methods, however, there is no absolute control on which side (rough or smooth) the ball will pitch and therefore be damaged. The real key to England’s success is twofold. First, they are more forensic than any other team at caring for and buffing the smoother side, polishing it like a precious ornament and keeping it scrupulously dry. Ever since Matt Prior took command of England’s ball-management a few years ago * remonstrating with fielders who landed a bounced return on a green or moist part of the outfield for instance - there is a culture of ball care which every player buys into. Second, England have bowlers whose arms are beyond the vertical when they release the ball. This is particularly useful to obtain reverse swing because such bowlers, releasing from the equivalent of 11 o’clock, tend to get the ball to pitch beside the seam rather than on it and the more abrasions created close to the seam on one side the better. (I know this partly because this used to happen when I was bowling). Ravi Bopara’s ‘tilted’ release is most pronounced, and it is noticeable that England tend to use him around the 20th over for three or four overs. Stuart Broad and James Anderson then take over at his end, using the ball that he has naturally scuffed. That is when reverse swing starts to materialise. It was this that aroused the umpires' concern against Sri Lanka at the Oval, causing them to change the ball that Bopara had just been using. They obviously were not happy about the state of it, but could not accuse him, or anyone else, of any misdeed, as there was no incriminating evidence. Also they would have remembered the ensuing furore the last time an umpire charged a team with ball-tampering at the Oval. It was in 2006 during the England-Pakistan Test. Darrell Hair changed the ball the Pakistanis were bowling with and issued a five-run penalty against them. Pakistan refused to come out after tea and the match was subsequently abandoned. A full-scale lawsuit resulted and I was summoned as an ‘expert witness’ for the Pakistanis. I was offered the ball to examine - in a lawyer’s office in Holburn - which was noticeably scratched and scuffed on one side. But it was wear consistent with what you would expect of a ball that had been used for 50 overs on a dry, cracked Test pitch, and I concluded that all the damage could have occurred naturally. Aleem Dar knew this last Thursday which is why he changed the ball but did not issue a penalty against England. It could happen again today. But the officials will not find a single TV replay or photograph to suggest any malpractice. The fact is England do not illegally tamper with the ball because: a) they are not stupid; and b) they do not need to. It is the moment – in this bat-driven environment – not to castigate the bowlers but to congratulate them.
Source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/10128368/England-do-tamper-with-the-ball...-but-it-is-legal.html :hysterical::hysterical: the biggest pile of BS i have ever come across, but then again its the Pommie Media. :hehe:
Link to comment

Everything that the poms do is legal. Why have the umpires not reported the English team? They changed the ball midway in an innings, a clear case of tampering with it. As usual, no action by the ICC. Also, these claims put into perspective those pictures of Broad and Anderson trying to pick the seam of the ball on 2009 SA tour.

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...