…not just because it added another chapter to the long list of Pakistani indiscretions, but because it involved biting the ball. There may be an excuse for Mike Gatting to bite a ball when feeling a little peckish during his heyday, but for a modern cricketer under the full scrutiny of television cameras 24/7, it was an act of madness.
Ball-tampering is part and parcel of modern cricket and it has been around for years. Some cricketers were renowned for their ball-tampering antics and it was impossible to convict them given the absence of any real policing other than the umpires. But at the end of the day, very few local bowlers had the ability to do much damage even if the seam was broken, because the wet wickets usually damaged the ball more. And given that a ball might go through a wide variety of substances aroundUlster cricket, it would be a brave man who put it anywhere near his mouth, let alone bite it!
Former CricketIreland professional, Afridi is no stranger to controversy, but this insane act of cheating defies logic and was quickly condemned byPakistan captain Mohammad Yousef. Of course, there’s a long history of ball-tampering within Pakistan cricket, involving the reverse swing experts Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, and in more recent times, “Mr. Controversy” himself, Shoaib Akhtar. Indeed the whole Pakistan team was accused by umpires Daryll Haire and Billy Doctrove in that amazing stand-off in 2006, when Inzaman-ul-Haq refused to let his team take the field. England was awarded the match, although the weak ICC later made it a draw to appease the Pakistan Cricket Board.
England hasn’t been squeaky clean either. In 1976 John Lever was rapped for using Vaseline, and what about sneaky Michael Atherton with the soil in his pockets? It was supposedly to dry his sweaty palms but the TV cameras seemed to show he was rubbing it on the ball! And just recently in South Africawe had “Heelgate” with Stuart Broad and James Anderson showing us another variation of ball abuse by tramping their spikes on it. AB De Villiers, the rest of the South African team, and the television cameras were not fooled.
Of course, ball tampering is only a crime when you are caught, so while test players will have to come up with more innovative ways to beat the cameras, local players will have to decide whether it is worth all the trouble. After all, there a certain amount of class rubbing a red ball down the front of your pants, and bowlers always enjoy applying a little bit of spit before shining it, and then watching their teammates rub it into their squeaky-clean hands. It’s a man thing at the end of the day.
My personal preference… Brylcreem. However, in the macho world we live in, I’m sure it has been replaced by designer gel.
Clarence Hiles
Editor
