Should ball tampering be legalised in world cricket?
Not long ago, players and administrators dreaded this and now a former star has gone ahead and called for ‘ball-tempering’. South African fast bowler Allan Donald in an interview to Cricinfo.com had mentioned that the International Cricket Council should legalise ball tampering to prevent the growing hegemony of batsmen in world cricket. “The ICC would shoot me for saying it but, with the wickets that we play on and the dying breed fast bowlers are becoming on these flatter wickets, I would say we do need some sort of defence mechanism, something to fall back on to say ‘Right, we can do this. We can now prepare this ball to go’,” Donald said. The 42-year-old has played for his country with distinction and knows that his statment may have little effect. He admitted, “That (legalising ball-tampering) quite simply would never happen.” He also said that many esteemed fast bowlers had tampered with the ball during his time and it had raised quite an eyebrow when Pakistan pacer Umar Gul bowled New Zealand in the World Twenty20 tournament in England last month.
However, Donald is not the first person to ask for legalising ball-tampering. In the mid-1990s, Sir Richard Hadlee too had advocated legalising it. “I don’t see anything wrong with it,” Hadlee had said.
Allan Donald’s statements have not been given a green signal by former pace-bowlers. Pakistan’s Wasim Akram said, ”
“ICC should not legalise this. Reverse swing happens automatically in Test matches on flat tracks after 40-50 overs. That is where the skill of the bowlers comes into effect. I don’t know why Donald is saying so. But the thing is if any bowler wants to master the art of reverse swing he will eventually do it.â€
Clearly, the yesteryear pacer did not want this to be legalised. When spoken to Javagal Srinath, the Indian star was stated,” As far as ball tampering is concerned, I do not wish to comment on it. All I have to say is that it is illegal.”
