Notwithstanding the sense of schadenfreude experienced by some cricket players and supporters outside of Australia by the resurrection of the Newlands ‘Sandpapergate’ fiasco of three years ago, there is something ‘else’ needed to explain just why the ball-tampering scandal elicits such strong emotions within the game. Something is missing and it both intrigues and frustrates me. What, exactly, was it about that episode which made it so different to other incidents of ball-tampering?
I was at the CPT test and, for an English supporter of the Proteas, seeing the Aussies get caught out was delicious. But in essence the “crime” was pretty small beer, compared to the attempted cover up and the denials, both on field and immediately afterwards. Cricket is such a wonderful game it is sad to see underhand cheating, sledging and intimidation (the almost nose to nose staring down by bowlers) detracting from all the skill and technique that make it fascinating to watch.
For me, it was the look on Steve Smith's face during the CPT test when someone whispered something into his ear while he was sitting watching the game. It wasn't a look of "oops, we've been busted and may be in a spot of bother" but absolute disdain that he and his team were untouchable. The arrogance. Akin to, say, a politician disregarding a legal summons to appear in court kind of look.
Of course, I do not know what was being whispered. It may have been quite innocent. Possibly.
Thanks for this piece Neil. One of my takeaways from this is that boards and host broadcasters could quite conceivably prevent the more trivial ball-tampering with items such as sugary mints or bottle tops. This could mean extra scrutiny on the chief ball polisher(s) for a touring side whilst turning a blind eye to similar actions adopted by the home side. I’d like to think that most broadcasts would not observe this sort of partiality, but some worrying recent examples of an increasing lack of independence in host broadcasting were discussed brilliantly in Isabel Westbury’s latest Wisden Cricket Monthly piece, if you haven’t been able to access it yet.
One thing that contributed to raising the profile of that incident was that it came at a critical point in a highly-charged series. Warner must have been desperate for some sort of revenge on SA after the whole 'masks' incident. But as Warner started all of that himself in Durban with his bad behaviour towards QDK, it was, even as an Australian, sweet to see him get his karma-ppance!
Metal zippers were removed from cricket pants in about 1979... then they suddenly appeared on the SA players' pants again in 2013. That took some serious planning and deployment!
I guess the sandpaper seems super premeditated while all the other incidents may have been spur of the moment, or at least, used material that was already on the field or in the mouth
You missed Vernon Philander's ball tampering in Galle in 2014 that saw him fined 75% of his match fee and helped Dale Steyn to a five-wicket haul with prodigious reverse swing. That's three times the Proteas were caught/sanctioned for it, and in pretty quick time too.
Why doesn't the ICC make a ruling of controlled ball tempering? Some of the best spells of fast bowling has been with a reverse swinging ball. Dale steyn was lethal as well as many other bowlers.
I was at the CPT test and, for an English supporter of the Proteas, seeing the Aussies get caught out was delicious. But in essence the “crime” was pretty small beer, compared to the attempted cover up and the denials, both on field and immediately afterwards. Cricket is such a wonderful game it is sad to see underhand cheating, sledging and intimidation (the almost nose to nose staring down by bowlers) detracting from all the skill and technique that make it fascinating to watch.
For me, it was the look on Steve Smith's face during the CPT test when someone whispered something into his ear while he was sitting watching the game. It wasn't a look of "oops, we've been busted and may be in a spot of bother" but absolute disdain that he and his team were untouchable. The arrogance. Akin to, say, a politician disregarding a legal summons to appear in court kind of look.
Of course, I do not know what was being whispered. It may have been quite innocent. Possibly.
Thanks for this piece Neil. One of my takeaways from this is that boards and host broadcasters could quite conceivably prevent the more trivial ball-tampering with items such as sugary mints or bottle tops. This could mean extra scrutiny on the chief ball polisher(s) for a touring side whilst turning a blind eye to similar actions adopted by the home side. I’d like to think that most broadcasts would not observe this sort of partiality, but some worrying recent examples of an increasing lack of independence in host broadcasting were discussed brilliantly in Isabel Westbury’s latest Wisden Cricket Monthly piece, if you haven’t been able to access it yet.
One thing that contributed to raising the profile of that incident was that it came at a critical point in a highly-charged series. Warner must have been desperate for some sort of revenge on SA after the whole 'masks' incident. But as Warner started all of that himself in Durban with his bad behaviour towards QDK, it was, even as an Australian, sweet to see him get his karma-ppance!
Metal zippers were removed from cricket pants in about 1979... then they suddenly appeared on the SA players' pants again in 2013. That took some serious planning and deployment!
I guess the sandpaper seems super premeditated while all the other incidents may have been spur of the moment, or at least, used material that was already on the field or in the mouth
You missed Vernon Philander's ball tampering in Galle in 2014 that saw him fined 75% of his match fee and helped Dale Steyn to a five-wicket haul with prodigious reverse swing. That's three times the Proteas were caught/sanctioned for it, and in pretty quick time too.
Why doesn't the ICC make a ruling of controlled ball tempering? Some of the best spells of fast bowling has been with a reverse swinging ball. Dale steyn was lethal as well as many other bowlers.