Ball Tampering...Whats the big deal anyway?

DATED: Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Following the Oval debacle...a new sense of interest has been generated all over the world and why shouldn’t it be this way? In the 129 year history of the gentleman's game, it was the FIRST time that a test match was forfeited in this nature...this is a hit on the whole Pakistan team's pride and Pakistan a country which is crazy about cricket...some people rate it as religion....being virtually labeled as cheats is a direct hit on the PRIDE of the Nation....that’s why this is a HUGE ISSUE...

I somehow have a feeling that everything will calm down very soon and the same norms would be followed...Inzi penalized in whatever way possible and Darrell Hair, once again getting away with murder...of the Paki Pride...there wouldn’t be any proof available cos if there was the briefest hint of anything...SKYSPORT's 26 cameras would have caught it and being an independent body than the ICC, PCB or ECB it would have taken it out on the media and generated huge revenue out of it...there is not a single proof to show that Pakistan tampered with the ball....so its a 'my word against yours' issue...and in this case it is a big allegation and to come out of it wearing a dignified umpire's WHITE coat...and getting away with defaming the whole nation...I DONT THINK SO!!!

There are lots of things to consider when we talk about a case...Darrell Hair can only provide the scuffed up ball...and his thoughts on why its ball tampering...no CRUDE EVIDENCE...while Inzi and the PCB can take this whole match from day 1....first innings...Pakistan bowling...beautifully taking wickets with the new ball...and same with the old ball...no issues...England getting hit around with the new ball blowing the lower middle order and tail with the old ball...NO ISSUES? Why, when Cook got out, a similar situation where the ball had been roughed up with play over 50 overs.....its bound to get scuffed up and start to reverse....obviously...a fear of being bowled over ENGLAND...had something to do with it...I wont go into saying anything about speculation...if we start that so can....Darrell Hair...

Sometimes I wonder....if England can win the ASHES...with Simon Jones' reverse swing...it is then the ART of Reverse Swing....and when all the bowling greats like....Imran Khan, Sarfaraz Nawaz, Wasim, Waqar bring it on....its CHEATING?? By the way the ART of reverse swing was invented by Pakistanis. We had the perfect conditions in our country, dry, hard and dusty wickets. The ball can naturally get scuffed up. To add to that we had the most talented FAST bowlers of those times. Why couldn’t INDIA who had similar conditions work on that as well? I think their attack has always been spin dependent. Other than the great Kapil Dev, they can't really mention another great FAST bowler of their history...and KAPIL did reverse the ball...

Its just a question of hitting the NATION's PRIDE....you just can't get away with accusing someone for that matter a whole team of ball tampering....WITHOUT ANY PROOF....and get away with it? This is definitely a BIG BIG DEAL!!!