5 ball-tampering techniques that cricketers often get away with

We frown when something beautiful is sullied, we cringe when something pure is stained, and we demand things to be sorted out.

For all the purity of sport, few moments of madness sling mud and leave an indelible imprint on it. Cricket, the gentleman’s game many say has always been pure, sacred, and played with fair-spirit. Time and again, it finds itself in the middle of a dirty pool splashing around for help and struggling to swim to the shores.

Ball-tampering is in the news recently, it has taken away the sheen from the game and forced us to sit up and acknowledge the intentions of otherwise good, honest people to squander ethics in an attempt to bulldoze the line between intensity and cheating.

While, the world is lambasting the Australians, and they should be, primarily because it was caught on camera, we should also understand and acknowledge the fact that there have been similar attempts made to tamper the ball to extract undue advantage which have been swept under the rug.

Now, let us take a look at five such ball tampering techniques which often get away.

#5 Picking the seam

Often the seam on a red ball is pronounced and remains so for almost 30 overs after which it starts to erode away.

Also, due to the parched nature of the outfield and the pitch, the ball loses its shine and the seam starts to come off.

This is when the bowling side tries to alter the condition of the seam to make it more pronounced which will in turn force the ball to move in the opposite direction, helping the bowlers extract reverse swing.

Often, this is not caught in the middle as it is very subtle and in the garb of removing dirt from the seam of the ball, fielding sides generally manage to play around with the seam.

#4 Using mint saliva on the ball

Another method employed by the fielding side to gain an undue advantage is to chew a mint gum and then use the saliva to shine one side of the ball to make it heavier thus creating a bias between the sides.

Often the ball moves in the direction of the heavier side and when mint is mixed with the saliva, it sticks around for a longer time which helps the bowlers generate prodigious swing.

Former England opener, Marcus Trescothick revealed in his book post-retirement that this particular method was widely used to keep up the shine on one side of the seam.

#3 Using lip balm

Another way of hiding in plain sight is by applying lip balm to maintain the side on one side of the ball.

Players often use lip balm and sunscreen lotion while on the field and they do not mind applying some of them to the ball to keep the shine going and increasing the weight of one side.

This helps the bowler to generate tremendous bend and late movement into or away from the batsman as the ball tails according to the direction of the shine.

Also, it becomes almost impossible for umpires to step in and challenge them since all the aforementioned lotions get mixed with sweat which in turn is rubbed on the surface of the ball.

#2 Repeatedly banging one side of the ball on the surface

One of the most common methods to erode the shine off the ball is to keep banging the assigned side on the ground. This corrodes the surface and owing to the parched nature of the pitch takes away the shine fairly quickly.

Sweat and spit are then applied to the other side to make it heavier and then bowlers release it and get it to swirl around.

However, the umpires have started keeping an eye on the fielding side to reduce this practice but the fielding sides keep finding grey areas and keep bouncing the ball whenever they get it back to the wicket-keeper or the bowler.

#1 Scratching the ball with fingernails

Although it might well be caught on cameras, players have used this particular method to extract reverse swing.

It is very normal for players to rub the ball with their hands and then with their trousers and in between, there have been instances when fingernails have poked the surface. This not only disintegrates the ball but also reduces the weight substantially.

It is quite a smart method, but then if caught, it might also lead to sanctions, but perhaps this particular method has been there since the inception of this art of reverse swing.