ECB targets ball-tampering

Mike Smith: told umpires what can go on in the field © Getty Images

The ECB is aiming to clamp down on cheating after it was revealed that the players condone some types of ball-tampering. Mike Smith, the former Gloucestershire left-arm seamer who played once for England, told a panel of first-class umpires about the use of lip salve, hair gel and sweets in the field, and also more extreme measures such as concealing part of an emery board in a finger plaster.

Alan Fordham, the chief operations manager at the ECB, asked Smith to represent the Professional Cricketers' Association at the meeting, and says that this issue needs addressing, although he doesn't believe there has been a sudden increase in these incidents.

Ball-tampering is covered under Law 42, sub-section three of which states: "It is unfair for anyone to rub the ball in the ground for any reason, interfere with the seams or the surface of the ball, use any implement, or take any further action whatsoever which is likely to alter the condition of the ball."

Fordham believes it is up to the players to show more restraint, but that the umpires also need to told what to look for: "We want to let the umpires know as much as possible so it gives them a better chance of spotting what's going on," Fordham told BBC Sport. "There is a big element of players needing to exercise self-restraint. The PCA told us the types of things that are going on, and it didn't come as a big surprise, but we need to ensure that players play by the laws."

Mike Denness, the former ICC match referee, told The Times that the onus must fall on the players: "The game should be played within the Laws and then within the [ICC] Code of Conduct, but primarily it should be up to captains and coaches to observe the spirit of the game."

If an umpire believes a team is guilty of tampering with the ball they can fine them five runs, and individual players can be reported and banned if they continue. Last season Mohammad Akram, who was then playing for Sussex, was reprimanded and received three penalty points for ball-tampering during the match against Warwickshire at Horsham.