The fourth and final Test match between England and Pakistan has been abandoned after Pakistan were accused of ball tampering. England were given 5 penalty runs because of the cheating. After play resumed after tea, Pakistan refused to come back onto the field and stayed in their dressing room in protest. The England batsmen were on the field waiting. After 45 minutes, the Pakistanis came back onto the field, amid boos and jeers from the crowd. But they then had to go back off again as the umpires also refused to come back out. It is the first time any international side have been penalised in such a way for the offence following a change to the laws of the game in recent years.
In cricket, bowlers can tamper with the ball in a variety of ways so that it suits the bowlers and their team and causes grief for batsmen. But it's illegal.
Pakistan were winning this Test Match (but had already lost the Series as they were 2-0 down in the Series and this was the final Test) but, according to the laws of the game, England could now be declared the winners due to Pakistan's protestations.
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The Score
Fourth and final test
1st Innings
England 173
Pakistan 504
2nd innings
England 298-4
England are 33 runs behind but could be declared winners, and will win the Series 3-0.
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Test match in chaos over cheating row
20th August 2006
Umpires inspect the ball after Pakistan were accused of tampering with it.
Pakistan are at the centre of an unprecedented ball-tampering controversy this afternoon. Their players had refused to continue the match at the Oval after the umpires alleged they had tampered with the ball.
Another half an hour later, Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq led his side out onto the field, but neither the umpires nor the England batsmen followed and two minutes later the tourists returned to their dressing room.
During the lunchtime session on the fourth day, umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove decided that Pakistan's bowlers had altered the state of the match ball and awarded England five penalty runs.
It is the first time any international side have been penalised in such a way for the offence following a change to the laws of the game in recent years.
Under law 42.3 of the International Cricket Council's playing conditions, the umpires should award five runs to the batting side and change the ball when they think it has been interfered with.
The batsmen at the wicket should then choose a replacement of similar wear from a selection of half a dozen.
England were 230 for three after 56 overs when the officials stopped play to confer in the middle and batsmen Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood were then asked to choose a substitute from a box brought out by fourth umpire Trevor Jesty.
Frequent inspections of the ball are undertaken by the umpires but there were no obvious signs of any Pakistan fielder altering the ball's condition.
The incident may have been sparked by Pakistan starting to achieve reverse swing through seamer Umar Gul, who dismissed Alastair Cook for 83 with an inswinging yorker, as England reached 298 for four when bad light stopped play shortly before tea, still 33 runs adrift.
As soon as the incident took place, Pakistan's English coach Bob Woolmer went to see match referee Mike Procter, who was due to discuss the matter further with the umpires at tea.
England had resumed 253 runs adrift on 78 for one and been fortunate not to lose a wicket during the early stages with Cook, who had not added to his overnight 33, being caught at silly point off pad and bat facing leg-spinner Danish Kaneria in the first over of the day.
Umpire Doctrove rejected that appeal and just four overs later Cook was given his second reprieve when he was bowled off a no-ball from Kaneria.
Perhaps influenced by his earlier decision, Doctrove did uphold an appeal for leg before when a fizzing leg break from Kaneria hit stand-in captain Andrew Strauss outside off-stump having hit a determined 54.
Three overs later Cook was given his third and final reprieve when he pulled Mohammad Asif straight to Faisal Iqbal at square leg only for him to miss the regulation chance.
It allowed Cook to forge a 103-run stand with Kevin Pietersen which put England back on course to salvage a draw until the ball began reverse-swinging in mid-afternoon and ended his innings of 83.
Pietersen, dropped on 15 by wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal off Kaneria, went on to punish Pakistan for their miss and shrugged off the controversy over the ball tampering to move within four runs of his sixth Test century.
But, looking for the big shot to bring up three figures, Pietersen instead edged Shahid Nazir behind and it needed a determined stand between Collingwood and Ian Bell to ensure England did not suffer any further losses before the light closed in.
dailymail.co.uk
***********************************************************************
How bowlers can tamper with a cricket ball to cause trouble to batsmen -
A new, highly polished ball is used at the start of each innings in a match. Bowlers are also allowed to polish the ball during the game with saliva or sweat and rubbing it onto their trousers which causes a red stain, but any other substance is illegal. Balls can be tampered with by being scratched or scruffed with the fingernails or the seams picked or lifted. This is probably what Pakistan did against England.
A cricket ball may not be replaced except under specific conditions described in the Laws of Cricket:
*If the ball becomes damaged or lost.
*If the condition of the ball is illegally modified by a player.
*If, after a specified number of overs ( 80 in Test cricket), the captain of the bowling side requests a new ball.
The ball is not replaced if it is hit into the crowd - the crowd must return it (unlike in baseball). If the ball is damaged, lost, or illegally modified, it will be replaced by a used ball in similar condition to the replaced ball. A new ball can only be used after the specified minimum number of overs have been bowled with the old one.
Because a single ball is used for an extended period of play, its surface wears down and becomes rough. The bowlers will polish it whenever they can - usually by rubbing it on their trousers, producing the characteristic red stain that can often be seen there. However, they will usually only polish one side of the ball, in order to create 'swing' as it travels through the air. They may apply natural substances (i.e. saliva or sweat) to the ball as they polish it, but any other material is illegal.
The seam of a cricket ball can also be used to produce different trajectories through the air, with the technique known as swing bowling, or to produce sideways movement as it bounces off the pitch, with the technique known as seam bowling.
Since the condition of the cricket ball is crucial to the amount of movement through the air a bowler can produce, the laws governing what players may and may not do to the ball are specific and rigorously enforced. The umpires will inspect the ball frequently during a match. It is illegal for a player to:
*rub any substance apart from saliva or sweat onto the ball
*rub the ball on the ground
*scuff the ball with any rough object, including the fingernails
*pick at or lift the seam of the ball.
Despite these rules, it can be tempting for players to gain an advantage by breaking them. There have been a handful of incidents of so-called ball tampering at the highest levels of cricket, involving players such as Pakistani fast bowler Waqar Younis and former England captain Mike Atherton.
A new cricket ball is harder than a worn one, and is preferred by fast bowlers because of the speed and bounce of the ball as it bounces off the pitch. Older balls tend to spin more as the roughness grips the pitch more when the ball bounces, so spin bowlers prefer to use a worn ball. A captain may delay the request for a new ball if he prefers to have his spin bowlers operating, but usually asks for the new ball soon after it becomes available.
Cricket balls are notoriously hard, and potentially lethal. Frederick, Prince of Wales, is said to have died of complications after being hit by one, and Glamorgan player, Roger Davis, was almost killed by one. Raman Lamba was killed when hit on the head while fielding at forward short leg in a club match in Bangladesh. Hence today's batsmen and close fielders often wear protective headgear.
wikipedia.org
The art of legally polishing a cricket ball only on one side of it or in certain areas so that it produces a certain swing or trajectory to cause trouble to a batsman is an art that could take years to learn.
In cricket, bowlers can tamper with the ball in a variety of ways so that it suits the bowlers and their team and causes grief for batsmen. But it's illegal.
Pakistan were winning this Test Match (but had already lost the Series as they were 2-0 down in the Series and this was the final Test) but, according to the laws of the game, England could now be declared the winners due to Pakistan's protestations.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Score
Fourth and final test
1st Innings
England 173
Pakistan 504
2nd innings
England 298-4
England are 33 runs behind but could be declared winners, and will win the Series 3-0.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Test match in chaos over cheating row
20th August 2006
Umpires inspect the ball after Pakistan were accused of tampering with it.
Pakistan are at the centre of an unprecedented ball-tampering controversy this afternoon. Their players had refused to continue the match at the Oval after the umpires alleged they had tampered with the ball.
Another half an hour later, Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq led his side out onto the field, but neither the umpires nor the England batsmen followed and two minutes later the tourists returned to their dressing room.
During the lunchtime session on the fourth day, umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove decided that Pakistan's bowlers had altered the state of the match ball and awarded England five penalty runs.
It is the first time any international side have been penalised in such a way for the offence following a change to the laws of the game in recent years.
Under law 42.3 of the International Cricket Council's playing conditions, the umpires should award five runs to the batting side and change the ball when they think it has been interfered with.
The batsmen at the wicket should then choose a replacement of similar wear from a selection of half a dozen.
England were 230 for three after 56 overs when the officials stopped play to confer in the middle and batsmen Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood were then asked to choose a substitute from a box brought out by fourth umpire Trevor Jesty.
Frequent inspections of the ball are undertaken by the umpires but there were no obvious signs of any Pakistan fielder altering the ball's condition.
The incident may have been sparked by Pakistan starting to achieve reverse swing through seamer Umar Gul, who dismissed Alastair Cook for 83 with an inswinging yorker, as England reached 298 for four when bad light stopped play shortly before tea, still 33 runs adrift.
As soon as the incident took place, Pakistan's English coach Bob Woolmer went to see match referee Mike Procter, who was due to discuss the matter further with the umpires at tea.
England had resumed 253 runs adrift on 78 for one and been fortunate not to lose a wicket during the early stages with Cook, who had not added to his overnight 33, being caught at silly point off pad and bat facing leg-spinner Danish Kaneria in the first over of the day.
Umpire Doctrove rejected that appeal and just four overs later Cook was given his second reprieve when he was bowled off a no-ball from Kaneria.
Perhaps influenced by his earlier decision, Doctrove did uphold an appeal for leg before when a fizzing leg break from Kaneria hit stand-in captain Andrew Strauss outside off-stump having hit a determined 54.
Three overs later Cook was given his third and final reprieve when he pulled Mohammad Asif straight to Faisal Iqbal at square leg only for him to miss the regulation chance.
It allowed Cook to forge a 103-run stand with Kevin Pietersen which put England back on course to salvage a draw until the ball began reverse-swinging in mid-afternoon and ended his innings of 83.
Pietersen, dropped on 15 by wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal off Kaneria, went on to punish Pakistan for their miss and shrugged off the controversy over the ball tampering to move within four runs of his sixth Test century.
But, looking for the big shot to bring up three figures, Pietersen instead edged Shahid Nazir behind and it needed a determined stand between Collingwood and Ian Bell to ensure England did not suffer any further losses before the light closed in.
dailymail.co.uk
***********************************************************************
How bowlers can tamper with a cricket ball to cause trouble to batsmen -
A new, highly polished ball is used at the start of each innings in a match. Bowlers are also allowed to polish the ball during the game with saliva or sweat and rubbing it onto their trousers which causes a red stain, but any other substance is illegal. Balls can be tampered with by being scratched or scruffed with the fingernails or the seams picked or lifted. This is probably what Pakistan did against England.
A cricket ball may not be replaced except under specific conditions described in the Laws of Cricket:
*If the ball becomes damaged or lost.
*If the condition of the ball is illegally modified by a player.
*If, after a specified number of overs ( 80 in Test cricket), the captain of the bowling side requests a new ball.
The ball is not replaced if it is hit into the crowd - the crowd must return it (unlike in baseball). If the ball is damaged, lost, or illegally modified, it will be replaced by a used ball in similar condition to the replaced ball. A new ball can only be used after the specified minimum number of overs have been bowled with the old one.
Because a single ball is used for an extended period of play, its surface wears down and becomes rough. The bowlers will polish it whenever they can - usually by rubbing it on their trousers, producing the characteristic red stain that can often be seen there. However, they will usually only polish one side of the ball, in order to create 'swing' as it travels through the air. They may apply natural substances (i.e. saliva or sweat) to the ball as they polish it, but any other material is illegal.
The seam of a cricket ball can also be used to produce different trajectories through the air, with the technique known as swing bowling, or to produce sideways movement as it bounces off the pitch, with the technique known as seam bowling.
Since the condition of the cricket ball is crucial to the amount of movement through the air a bowler can produce, the laws governing what players may and may not do to the ball are specific and rigorously enforced. The umpires will inspect the ball frequently during a match. It is illegal for a player to:
*rub any substance apart from saliva or sweat onto the ball
*rub the ball on the ground
*scuff the ball with any rough object, including the fingernails
*pick at or lift the seam of the ball.
Despite these rules, it can be tempting for players to gain an advantage by breaking them. There have been a handful of incidents of so-called ball tampering at the highest levels of cricket, involving players such as Pakistani fast bowler Waqar Younis and former England captain Mike Atherton.
A new cricket ball is harder than a worn one, and is preferred by fast bowlers because of the speed and bounce of the ball as it bounces off the pitch. Older balls tend to spin more as the roughness grips the pitch more when the ball bounces, so spin bowlers prefer to use a worn ball. A captain may delay the request for a new ball if he prefers to have his spin bowlers operating, but usually asks for the new ball soon after it becomes available.
Cricket balls are notoriously hard, and potentially lethal. Frederick, Prince of Wales, is said to have died of complications after being hit by one, and Glamorgan player, Roger Davis, was almost killed by one. Raman Lamba was killed when hit on the head while fielding at forward short leg in a club match in Bangladesh. Hence today's batsmen and close fielders often wear protective headgear.
wikipedia.org
The art of legally polishing a cricket ball only on one side of it or in certain areas so that it produces a certain swing or trajectory to cause trouble to a batsman is an art that could take years to learn.