By Mina Anand
February 9th 2010 @ 1:48am
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Ball tampering claims against Pakistan unfair
Do the British have sole proprietary rights to “playing the game?” The recent England-South Africa Test Series witnessed the English players ‘playing with the ball’, albeit “abstractedly”.
A few fingers were pointed, but nothing official came of it. The English players are outraged. They take “great offence” at the accusations cast at them.
“Tampering with the ball? You must be kidding, old chap! Can’t you see we were just “a bit absent-minded and lazy?” How can the English, who introduced the ‘Gentleman’s Game’, be accused of ‘cheating’?
Anyone has a right to moral indignation, when aspersions are cast on their character. But what happens when the very same English take the high moral ground and point the same scruffy finger (not absent-mindedly, mind you) at the Pakistanis ?
Were things fair and square at the Oval Test ?
That was not a situation where the Umpire, rightly or wrongly, raises the finger and calls ‘out’. And where the player must obey – without a show of dissent.
That was a scenario where The Judge pointed a finger, without any evidence, and without hearing the other side. Umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove charged the Pakistan team with Unfair Play (ball-tampering, in this instance) and accordingly, at the end of the 56th over, changed the ball, penalizing Pakistan five runs.
Ball-tampering is a very serious imputation. A defamatory charge. It accuses a team of cheating. It tarnishes the image of the captain and his team, the Board, and the country.
On the face of it, the umpires’ decisions at the Oval were in accordance with the Laws. But, again, the umpires had no proof of any sort to substantiate their accusations.
They had not spotted any fielder tampering with the ball. They were just going by the appearance of the ball.
Why did they charge the Pakistanis, without any proof of ball-tampering? Why these double standards?
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Viscount Crouchback said | February 9th 2010 @ 7:59am | Report comment
Which Englishmen were occupying the moral high ground? It was an Australian, not an Englishman, who accused the Pakistanis of ball tampering. The English players were bemused onlookers. Most of the English media went in very hard indeed on Hair. And they went in hard on Anderson and Broad, too. Indeed, Michael Vaughan made the precise point that if the English bowlers had been Pakistani, they might not have got off so lightly.
Anyway, I think it is somewhat over-dramatic and old-fashioned to treat accusations of tampering as a slur on the nation. People seem increasingly to be coming round to the idea that a spot of cheeky scraping is no worse than, say, deliberately slowing the opposition’s ball in rugger. Certainly, I fail to see how it is any worse than attempting deliberately to break the batsman’s concentration by sledging.
The truth is that the English long ago lost the battle to preserve cricket’s integrity. Professionalism, the Australians, modernity – each coarsened the game in various ways. It’s surely past time to ditch the notion that cricket is any different to other sports. That way, at least, we’ll no longer to have put up with pompous “it’s not cricket” sermonising every time something iffy happens.
vinay verma said | February 9th 2010 @ 8:51am | Report comment
Mina,I think we have all moved on from individual actions reflecting on a whole Nation. It is irrelevant if it is an Indian,Pakistani or Englishman caught in the act. It is wrong and just because many cricketers bend the rules does not give it credibility.What I find untenable is Ramiz Raja trying to justify it and asking for ball tampering to be legalised. Please see his quote reproduced from Cricinfo on 6th February below:
” Afridi comes from an era, a cricketing culture, where ball-tampering is considered a normal cricket activity, the done thing on flat Pakistani pitches – an art form and not a sin. It’s been a part of the Pakistan team’s standard operating procedure.”
He says it is part of standard operating procedure. It makes you wonder if Darrell Hair was right after all in accusing the Pakistani’s of ball tampering at the OVAL.
Shocks said | February 9th 2010 @ 9:39am | Report comment
Interesting article you given us all something to chew on for a while…
sledgeross said | February 9th 2010 @ 12:21pm | Report comment
The umpires thought the ball had been tampered with, and, in their opinion, this required the penalty. All the umpire can do is act in good faith, and act on the evidence in front of them. This is what Doctrove and Hair did. Similar situation if an Umpire believes a bowler is chucking the ball. The umpire is compelled by the laws of the game to call such things.
Pakistan, unfortunately, do have a reputation for ball tampering, so people will always been placing them under greater scrutiny. It seems the English have shown a penchant for tampering as well of late.
Its merely unfortunate that players/teams become stereotyped. The Pakistani’s are ball tamperers, the Aussies are uncouth sledgers etc. But where there is smoke, there is fire I guess!
Tom said | February 10th 2010 @ 11:25am | Report comment
So Mina, what do you make of Afridi taking a bite out of the ball?
Mina Anand said | February 10th 2010 @ 12:51pm | Report comment
I had brought in the Michael Vaughan comment on the issue, but due to space constraints, the Editors left that out !
And yes, Afridi’s actions are certainly not condonable, and he deserves his punishment – but the point I’m trying to make is : why pick on a team ’s reputation and hang all of them , over the years? As we all know, the rest of the world is not above ‘tinkering’ with the ball as well….‘nailing /spiking /muddying /minting / bottle-topping – or the latest method – ‘biting’ the ball !
Why pick on Pak ?