Five Most Bizarre Things Cricketers Used for Ball Tampering

International Cricket Council (ICC) has sent across regarding message to cricketers around the world after the recent ball-tampering scandals.

Most recently, Dinesh Chandimal was reprimanded for his role during the second Test against the Windies. Meanwhile, this year Cricket Australia suspended three Australian cricketers for their role in the tampering scandal.

However, the history of ball-tampering in this discipline has a long story. Players like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid have also used this method to increase the chances of picking wickets.

On that note, let us take a look at different thing used to tamper the ball –

Trouser zip

South Africa’s Faf du Plessis was charged for changing the condition of the ball by rubbing it against his trouser zip. The incident took place in a 2013 Test against Pakistan in Dubai.

He had to give 50 per cent of his match fee as a fine. However, it didn’t stop him from not resorting to ball tampering in the future.

In 2016 too, against Australia, Plessis had shined the ball with a sweet to make it shine. ICC after watching the footage fined him 100 per cent, which was the double of his initial fine against Pakistan.

Mint induced saliva

As per ICC’s rules and regulations in regard to ball tampering, a cricketer can only use saliva and sweat to make the ball shine. However, if you mix your saliva with another added substance, it becomes an offence.

One such case was with former England batsman Marcus Trescothick. He revealed in his autobiography that he used mint-mixed saliva to make the ball shine, which in turn swung more and helped England record their first Ashes victory in 18 years.

“It had been common knowledge in county cricket for some time that certain sweets produced saliva which, when applied to the ball for cleaning purposes, enabled it to keep its shine for longer and therefore its swing,” Trescothick wrote in his autobiography.

A bottle top

Former New Zealand pacer Chris Pringle didn’t receive any punishment but admitted his offense. Pringle claimed a career-best 11 wickets for 152 runs in a Test against Pakistan at Faisalabad’ on a batting friendly wicket.

However, later, he revealed he used a bottle top to scratch the ball.

He cut the bottle top into quarters, applied tape on it excluding on the sharp point. He then hid it in his pocket and tampered the ball during the game.

Lozenge (a toffee)

Video footage showed former Indian captain Rahul Dravid applying lozenge on the ball in an ODI game against Zimbabwe in Australia.

Match referee Clive Lloyd had confirmed the news with after watching the TV footage.

Meanwhile, 50 per cent of his match fee got deducted after being found guilty. As per reports, it was actually a cough lozenge Dravid was using to keep his cough in control.

Teeth

All-rounder Shahid Afridi was caught on camera biting the ball twice in an ODI against Australia in Perth in 2010. Pakistan lost by two wickets, and Afridi got a ban for two ODIs.

The swashbuckling batsman pleaded guilty to the charge after match referee Ranjan Madugalle summoned him.

He had later also said all teams in the world tamper the world, but “my methods were wrong’.

“I am embarrassed, I shouldn’t have done it. I just wanted to win us a game but this was the wrong way to do it,” Afridi said.

Also Read: Usman Khawaja extremely disappointed to miss England ODIs