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Baggy Green ball tampering: Bancroft, Smith and the Aussie "Leadership Group"

Shri

Well-known member
Actually India’s batsmen totally dominated Oz’s weak bowling attack that series, they just wasted a couple of winning positions which were there for the taking.
Yeah you have no idea how **** the bowling was then for India. Hell we weren't a respectable bowling unit until...

:(
 

Shri

Well-known member
This may be showing my ignorance of what goes on in a change room, but if sandpaper was used, what were they doing with it to suddenly come up with the plan during the lunch break? Did they have it in their bags for sanding down bats, that seems a little old school? Or did they send somebody off to go buy some, or scrounge around for some?
Jfc man, didn't you see? Bancroft bought some off amazon.
 

Biryani Pillow

Well-known member
Michael Atherton, 1994
In the "dirt in pocket" affair, then England captain Michael Atherton was accused of ball tampering during a Test match with South Africa at Lord's in 1994 after television cameras caught Atherton reaching into his pocket and then rubbing a substance on the ball. Atherton denied ball tampering, claiming that he had dirt in his pocket which he used to dry his hands. He was also accused of lying to the match referee. Atherton was summoned to the match referee and was fined £2,000 for failing to disclose the dirt to the match referee.[4]


England cricket team, 2005
Marcus Trescothick admitted in his autobiography, Coming Back to Me, that he used mints to shine the ball to produce more swing: "It was my job to keep the shine on the new ball for as long as possible with a bit of spit and a lot of polish. And through trial and error I finally settled on the type of spit for the task at hand. 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." He found Murray Mints worked the best.[11]

The admission came 3 years after the conclusion of the 2005 Ashes series, in which England beat Australia 2–1.



Just re these 2:

Atherton did not lie to the match referee. What he said was entirely consistent wwith what was found - and their was no evidence of the ball having been doctored. He was not fined following that game.

The £2000 fine came after the next Test. He was given out LBW after a massive knick into his pads. Half way back to the pavilion, and this could only be seen on TV, he raised his eyebrows.

Peter Burge petulantly decided this was questioning the umpires decision and in a fit of pique imposed a fine. If all players were fined in the same way there would be no professional game.

Re 2005, players are allowed to consume sweets, and drinks during the course of play. There is no problem with saliva getting on the ball as, like sweat, it is a naturally occurring substance.
 

fredfertang

Well-known member
Michael Atherton, 1994
In the "dirt in pocket" affair, then England captain Michael Atherton was accused of ball tampering during a Test match with South Africa at Lord's in 1994 after television cameras caught Atherton reaching into his pocket and then rubbing a substance on the ball. Atherton denied ball tampering, claiming that he had dirt in his pocket which he used to dry his hands. He was also accused of lying to the match referee. Atherton was summoned to the match referee and was fined £2,000 for failing to disclose the dirt to the match referee.[4]



Just re these 2:

Atherton did not lie to the match referee. What he said was entirely consistent wwith what was found - and their was no evidence of the ball having been doctored. He was not fined following that game.

The £2000 fine came after the next Test. He was given out LBW after a massive knick into his pads. Half way back to the pavilion, and this could only be seen on TV, he raised his eyebrows.

Peter Burge petulantly decided this was questioning the umpires decision and in a fit of pique imposed a fine. If all players were fined in the same way there would be no professional game.
Oh yes he did!

In his own words

I had never met Peter Burge before. His reputation had been as a ferocious hitter of the cricket ball and he looked fearsome, stern and headmasterly in his office that evening. In short, I panicked. I sensed that he felt I was guilty and I was not about to incriminate myself. So I convinced myself that dust was not an illegal or artificial substance and told him as much.
 

Spikey

Well-known member
i mean really:

Can you tell me how many runs Matthew Hayden scored? I can’t...But I’ll tell you what I do know: I know how they played the game and the upstanding characters they are.
 

Borges

Well-known member
Apologies if posted but it's why we will always love Mr Cricke
It was posted earlier; nevertheless it was a pleasure reading it once again.


I hope that these players challenge the ruling by CA; and that the independent commission would then arrive at a more sensible decision.
 

SeamUp

Well-known member
i mean really:
Nice guy


I will never forget when Baby Biff told Sports Illustrated about every sledge from the Aussie team. Basically mentioned every player. Hayden particularly. Then some of Lee, Warne and McGrath, Langer, Ponting, M.Waugh

Smith said Hayden had followed him to the crease in his second innings and "stood on the crease for about two minutes telling me that I wasn't f---ing good enough".

Smith told the magazine: "'You know, you're not f---ing good enough,' he told me. 'How the f--- are you going to handle Shane Warne when he's bowling in the rough? What the f--- are you going to do?'.

"And I hadn't even taken guard yet. He stood there right in my face, repeating it over and over. All I could manage was a shocked, nervous smile. I'd taken a bit of banter before but this was something else. Hayden had obviously been told that his job was to attack me."
 
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Starfighter

Well-known member
Re 2005, players are allowed to consume sweets, and drinks during the course of play. There is no problem with saliva getting on the ball as, like sweat, it is a naturally occurring substance.
It is established that sugar is a foreign substance and illegal (though easy to get away with). Saliva on its own is fine.
 

Biryani Pillow

Well-known member
Oh yes he did!

In his own words

I had never met Peter Burge before. His reputation had been as a ferocious hitter of the cricket ball and he looked fearsome, stern and headmasterly in his office that evening. In short, I panicked. I sensed that he felt I was guilty and I was not about to incriminate myself. So I convinced myself that dust was not an illegal or artificial substance and told him as much.
Dirt gets on the ball all the time, and players get dirt on their fingers all the time.

Still a fact that Burge found nothing untoward and had to create a feeble reason to fine Atherton after the next game.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
This may be showing my ignorance of what goes on in a change room, but if sandpaper was used, what were they doing with it to suddenly come up with the plan during the lunch break? Did they have it in their bags for sanding down bats, that seems a little old school? Or did they send somebody off to go buy some, or scrounge around for some?
I think "sandpaper" is just what it's being called so we don't have to keep saying "yellow electrical tape with bits of grit stuck on". It was DIY sandpaper at best.
 

Spark

Global Moderator
I think "sandpaper" is just what it's being called so we don't have to keep saying "yellow electrical tape with bits of grit stuck on". It was DIY sandpaper at best.
Nah I think it's pretty clear that it was actual sandpaper, and this was part of why Smith got done.
 

Starfighter

Well-known member
Dirt gets on the ball all the time, and players get dirt on their fingers all the time.

Still a fact that Burge found nothing untoward and had to create a feeble reason to fine Atherton after the next game.
The fact that dirt incidentally gets on the ball does not mean that putting dirt, that would otherwise not have been on the ball, on the ball is fine. It very much isn't.
 
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