The ball-tampering row at Newlands
The ball-tampering allegations seemed to have blown over after South Africa did not lodge an official complaint before the deadline, but AB de Villiers has added more fuel to the fire
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
The ball-tampering allegations seemed to have blown over after South Africa did not lodge an official complaint before the deadline, but AB de Villiers has added more fuel to the fire. Here's what the papers had to say ...
In the Times, Michael Atherton says South Africa have "behaved cravenly".
Ball tampering is a serious allegation in cricket, and if you make it, as South Africa effectively did on the third evening by publicly raising their “concerns” about the state of the ball to Roshan Mahanama, the match referee, you had better be damn sure of your facts ... After letting all and sundry know that they felt England were up to no good on the third evening, South Africa ran for cover yesterday. A spokesman alerted us to a forthcoming announcement from the ICC, which arrived, in all its magnificent obfuscation, in the afternoon. The ICC, having received no formal complaint, considers the matter closed. From South Africa there was nothing.
Ed Smith, another Times columnist, offers a different view. He writes, "It is high time that ball tampering, given that everyone does it, is downgraded from its present absurd status as a crime worthy of deep shame and opprobrium."
Nasser Hussain's opinion, in the Daily Mail, is much stronger and he isn't pleased with James Anderson's behaviour.
I cannot believe, having seen incriminating pictures of Jimmy Anderson for the first time on Wednesday, that match referee Roshan Mahanama has not dragged him into his office, sat him down and asked him to explain himself. I presume Mahanama has seen the television coverage that we saw on Wednesday. And if he has not then he should have made it his business to. And those pictures showed Anderson coming very close to what you would consider to be ball-tampering.
However, David Lloyd writes in the Daily Mail that "the whole subject of ball-tampering is exaggerated in our game."
Umpires, whatever people think, are not stupid and I used to be one. The correct way to deal with something like this is what I understand exactly happened. The umpires had a word with Andrew Strauss just to remind him that they should inspect the ball at all times and that if a piece of leather protrudes then they have to deal with it, not the bowler. In effect Anderson had his wrist slapped by the umpires and that is the end of the matter. As it should be. It has gone on forever and it is no more serious that that.
With South Africa taking no action, only Michael Vaughan and local TV seem particularly exercised by Tuesday's incident, writes Paul Weaver in the Guardian.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo