One year ago in the month of March, three Australian players were found guilty of ball tampering in a Test against South Africa.
David Warner was banned for 12 months from playing international and domestic cricket, and he was also banned from captaincy for life. Steve Smith was also banned for 12 months from playing international and domestic cricket, also from captaincy for 12 months after the completion of his ban. Cameron Bancroft was banned for only 9 months. They were caught rubbing the balls with sandpaper, to help it swing more.
But it seems like spinner Zampa hasn’t learned anything from the sandpaper saga. During the India-Australia clash in the World Cup on Sunday, Adam Zampa was found doing a suspicious activity during the Indian innings. If you look at the below photo carefully, you will see Zampa is doing something unusual.
In the first and second part of the photo, it seems Zampa is searching for something in his pocket, and in the third part of the photo, it looks like he is rubbing the ball. Although it could be a finger warmer which is allowed by ICC. It will be interesting to see how the ICC reacts to these on-field moments.
https://twitter.com/navneet_mundhra/status/1137739977247211520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Ball tampering is not new to cricket. Different teams have tried to change the condition of the ball in their own way.
In the recently concluded World Cup match between England and Pakistan, umpires spoke to both teams to warn them not to throw the ball into the turf unnecessarily. Both the teams were using the tactic excessively in a bid to alter the condition of the ball.
In the early 90s, Pakistani bowlers were accused of ball tampering to swing the ball more than usual using bottle caps. Former Kiwi captain Martin Crowe bowler Chris Pringle even admitted that they tampered the ball against Pakistan in 1990. Both confessed after their respective retirements, insisting Pakistan were doing it too and the local umpires turned a blind eye to both teams’ actions.