Nothing in life remains pure white right through. Not even cricket. The gentleman’s game has also been through some incidents which have disheveled its reputation over the years. Do these incidents happen on a deliberate effort? At times, yes. (There is no hiding to that) And at times, no.
One such incident which has been doing the rounds of late is Ball Tampering. As the name suggests, it is the process of tampering the ball with a variety of ways to improve the shine on the ball, which eventually aids the fast bowlers in swinging the cherry. This technique is prevalent in cricket for over years now. It is generally conducted by the fielders (or sometimes bowlers themselves) in a bid to help their bowler.
The various ways in which a cricket ball can be tampered, are by rubbing the ball with the ground, scratching the ball with the fingernails, tampering the seam of the ball, using the spikes of the boot or a bottle cap to roughen one side of the ball, usage of a hair gel, any sugar substance (even sweetened saliva, for that matter), lip balm etc.
This malpractice is generally performed during test cricket. In situations, where partnerships tend not to break, externals methods such as these, are brought into the play. However, such methods or tactics are not at all advisable. There have been many cases in the past where a player is accused of ball tampering just because he was clearing the mud off the ball or even while using genuine methods to shine the ball. So, it is one side of the coin as well.
During the ongoing second Test of Sri Lanka’s tour of West Indies at St Lucia, Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal has been accused of tampering. Here are the other infamous incidents of Ball Tampering where renowned players were accused of the offense:
1. Waqar Younis (Pakistan) – The former Pakistani captain and one of the most lethal swing bowlers ever, Waqar Younis became the first cricketer to be fined and suspended for tampering with the ball during the third match of the Singer Cup between Pakistan and South Africa at Colombo in 2000. New Zealand match referee John Reid fined Younis 50% of his match fee after finding him guilty of the offense. Moin Khan, the then Pakistani captain, and all-rounder Azhar Mahmood were handed 30% of their match fees respectively.
2. Sachin Tendulkar (India) – During the second Test match of India’s tour of South Africa in 2001 at Port Elizabeth, Sachin Tendulkar was accused of tampering with the ball. It was one of the many decisions by the officials which went against the likes of the Indians. The situation worsened to the extent that India threatened to abandon the tour midway. The ICC later cleared Tendulkar of all the charges.
3. Rahul Dravid (India) – During the sixth ODI between of the VB Series in 2004 between India and Zimbabwe at Brisbane, Rahul Dravid was caught on camera applying lozenge on the ball. Citing this breach of the code of conduct in mind, match referee Clive Lloyd fined Dravid with 50% of his match fees.
4. Pakistan team – During the fourth Test of Pakistan’s tour of England in 2006 at The Oval, umpires Darrel Hair and Billy Doctrove charged the Pakistan team for tampering with the ball. Similar to what happened in the ongoing series in West Indies, the Pakistani team refused to take ground during the Test match for they were of the opinion that none of them had committed the offence. The umpires ended up awarding the match to the hosts.
5. Faf du Plessis (South Africa) – In which was his second time in the same offence, South African captain Faf du Plessis was fined 100% of his match fee during the second Test of South Africa’s tour of Australia in 2016 at Hobart after TV footage appeared to show him applying saliva onto the ball from a mint.
