Ball tampering, does every team do it?

[Goughy]

I dont want to come across as the Mother Tesesa of fast bowlers, Ive seen many people attempt to lift the seam but mainly at junior level as as part of youthful exuberance. Including myself and I know how to get a ball reversing around corners (though never found a captain that would let me try in a game using legal or illegal methods)

As I said, I only know of one player as a good senior level (he used vaseline) to regulary and habitually alter the ball.

 

[Son Of Coco]

The way SOC's talked about it in the past it wouldn't matter what you did to the balls they use in Brisbane grades, they'd still do sod-all.

Nah, that's only the Gabba. It's not the best, seam flattens after about 15-20 overs and its useless if you're a seam bowler (obviously). Have used the Kookaburras and Platypus and find they're much, much better. You can still get movement off the seam in the 40th or 50th over if you hit it. The number of times teams have been 6-7/not many since we've switched to using the Gabba ball and gone on to get 200+ is ridiculous. Would be better off using a tennis ball.

Our pitches are getting flatter though too so I'd imagine it would be happening. I just haven't done it or seen it.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Really? If we get a rain dealy at our home ground and the ball's wet, I always pop it in the pie oven. Bastard dries like a ****ing house brick, and the seam stands up incredibly. And there's a technical argument the ball hasn't been tampered with - it's no more an aid to drying it than using a towel (at least that's my defence should I ever get called on it).

Did it when I was coaching a kids' team one day (they were properly horrible and we were going to lose outright anyway) - threw the ball to one of the lads and he burned his hand on it - had to sit out the rest of the game. But the first ball post-break hit the deck and seamed about 18 inches. We took 5 for 2 after the break, made the kids feel a bit better about themselves.

 

[Top_Cat]

I dont want to come across as the Mother Tesesa of fast bowlers,

Wouldn't compare yourself to her; has a terrible record outside India.

 

[Burgey]

Wouldn't compare yourself to her; has a terrible record outside India.

 

[SilentOne]

Give ball-tampering green light - Cricket - Fox Sports

I'm all for this tbh, didn't know Hadlee had been a supporter of it though.

 

[pasag]

Agree that bowlers, as a team, should be able to choose their own ball, as long as it has approved Test certification.

 

[Burgey]

Give ball-tampering green light - Cricket - Fox Sports

I'm all for this tbh, didn't know Hadlee had been a supporter of it though.

Explains his record

 

[honestbharani]

eh, and if the ball falls apart do the bowlers get a new ball?

I certainly sympathise with the bowlers, but ripping into it with your teeth is a bit too much.

if I had my way, they would.



Honestly speaking, I think there should something for the bowlers on these dead as dodo tracks... If you can bite it and get it to reverse more, then it should be allowed. I mean, you are not using any foreign object, right? Let all these great 50+ average batsmen learn to play some swing.


I realize it is probably an unfair advantage for the bowlers but my point is that, in this day and age of flat tracks and short boundaries, they really do need the unfair advantage.

 

[Sir Alex]

Atherton himself remains and always has adamant that he was not cheating, because he was not altering the condition of the ball; rather, he was attempting to maintain it. Only if you refuse to accept this can you legitimately call Atherton a cheat.

Preventing natural wear and tear with artificial substances is as good as tampering the ball.

 

[andyc]

Atherton himself remains and always has adamant that he was not cheating, because he was not altering the condition of the ball; rather, he was attempting to maintain it. Only if you refuse to accept this can you legitimately call Atherton a cheat.

Does that mean I could carry a jar of lacquer in my pocket and re-paint the ball every 10 overs and it'd be okay?

 

[dikinee]

Does that mean I could carry a jar of lacquer in my pocket and re-paint the ball every 10 overs and it'd be okay?

Dont forget the sandpaper cause you only want to lacquer one side.


So it would be alright then if I pull a couple of pickets off the fence and nail them to my bat to make it wider

I think ball tamperers are cheats and should be banned for life.

 

[Smudge]

Wouldn't compare yourself to her; has a terrible record outside India.

 

[dikinee]

I've said it before and yes it's largely a joke, but the best and fairest ruling would be that a bowler gets to choose his own ball, can do whatever he wishes to it provided it remains inside the laws, can change it whenever he wants, and no other player uses it. Just like a batsman can do with his bat.

The purists will say that's just not cricket. But I suppose that's because cricket is fundamentally a batsman's game.

If every bowler had their own ball and say you had 7 guys in the team who bowl and they bowl 5 overs each thats 35 overs gone and you are not even close to seeing off the new ball. That would tip the scales too far in the other direction and make batting so difficult that the game would lose any appeal to the majority of spetators.

I agree that everything seems to favour the batsman but, speaking as someone who has done both, you get a lot more second chances as a bowler than as a batsman. You bowl a bad ball you get hit for 4 then you walk back to your mark and have another go, you play a bad shot and see you later.

 

[mohammad16]

If you are worried about a batter freindly game then there are a thousand other steps one can take to balance things out before resorting to ball tampering. Ball tampering should never be allowed just as chucking isnt. I mean naturally the Pathans would hold an unfair advantage with tampering allowed since they consume almost half of Pakistans total milk supply with added calcium.

 

[Streetwise]

If you are worried about a batter freindly game then there are a thousand other steps one can take to balance things out before resorting to ball tampering. Ball tampering should never be allowed just as chucking isnt. I mean naturally the Pathans would hold an unfair advantage with tampering allowed since they consume almost half of Pakistans total milk supply with added calcium.

Sounds like you are jealous of Pathans.

 

[Richard]

Preventing natural wear and tear with artificial substances is as good as tampering the ball.

He wasn't preventing natural wear and tear, he was attempting to ensure that natural wear and tear was not reversed, and dust is not an artificial substance.

 

[Richard]

Does that mean I could carry a jar of lacquer in my pocket and re-paint the ball every 10 overs and it'd be okay?

No, because that's an "artificial" substance, so even though it's used on balls before they're played with it's not allowed once it comes into use.

 

[Sir Alex]

He wasn't preventing natural wear and tear, he was attempting to ensure that natural wear and tear was not reversed, and dust is not an artificial substance.

A lump of dirt is not a naturally ocurring substance in the pockets of an International cricketer unless he is onto something abnormal. It is beyond me to comprehend what you meant by "he was attempting to ensure that natural wear and tear was not reversed". Does that happen otherwise?

 

[Richard]

A lump of dirt is not a naturally ocurring substance in the pockets of an International cricketer unless he is onto something abnormal.

"Lump of dirt"? You clearly didn't watch the instance then. It was a little bit of dust, not a massive lump of soil.

It is beyond me to comprehend what you meant by "he was attempting to ensure that natural wear and tear was not reversed". Does that happen otherwise?

Yes - hands get sweaty on hot days, thus the wear-and-tear and drying of one side of the ball will be reversed if sweaty palms are applied to said side. Atherton was attempting to stop that from happening - he was not altering the condition of the ball.