Cricket's hidden tactics are an open secret
While the very suggestion that anyone might have been ball tampering causes outrage, Darren Berry in The Age says that it is rife - and what is more, that it could even enhance the game.
Martin Williamson
25-Feb-2013
While the very suggestion that anyone might have been ball tampering causes outrage, Darren Berry in The Age says that it is rife - and what is more, that it could even enhance the game.
"A few months ago NSW fast bowler Nathan Bracken was censured after his comments about ball tampering. But what he said was absolutely true. Bracken said that during his time in English county cricket, his team, Gloucestershire, loaded one side of the ball with saliva that was thickened and sugary after sucking on mints. The result was for the ball to start moving through the air in an unnatural manner. The sexy term for this is reverse swing. This practice and others go on in most matches around the world."
While Berry does not advocate the use of industrial sanding machines to scuff up the ball, he raises some intersting points.
"What does it matter if the ball is thrown into the ground early to rough it up? Let the bowlers scratch the ball with their fingers if they wish; it is a skill that arguably adds to the game."
He concludes that with the game so heavily biased in favour of the batsmen, with limits on bouncers per over and improved bat technology, why not even the battle.
"Ball-tampering is rife in world cricket and the easy way to fix it is to loosen the law."
Martin Williamson is executive editor of ESPNcricinfo and managing editor of ESPN Digital Media in Europe, the Middle East and Africa