Holding, Waqar, Nehra, Donald and Mahmood debate pros and cons

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Apr-2020
Not allowing sweat or saliva, murdering the bowlers: Ashish Nehra
What is ball-tampering? When you scratch the ball on one side with your nail, bottle cap, with your spikes or any other means. But that does not make the ball reverse. You have to use saliva, sweat, murray mints etc. to not just shine the ball, but also make the other side heavy. That is how you traditionally get reverse swing.The other significant thing to keep in mind is fast bowlers need to practise using the artificial substances that will be permitted during a match under the umpire’s supervision. You can’t just expect fast bowlers to arrive at a Test match and suddenly start swinging the ball even conventionally.Bowlers need to have the experience of using these artificial substances, like wax or shoe polish, you are talking about to shine ball and understand its behaviour. Also different balls – Kookaburra, SG Test, Dukes – will behave differently on different surfaces. So there are plenty of unknowns as far as I am concerned.How many times am I allowed to approach the umpire to use the artificial substance to shine the ball? When we put saliva, at times I would rub that after every second or third delivery. There are different ways to shine the ball. Sometimes you don’t shine the other side completely, especially if your ball has landed on the seam. Sometimes the ball goes to boundary or into the stands and comes back damaged, then you shine the ball in a different way.You shine a Kookaburra in a different way, a Dukes in a different way and you shine SG Test in a different way. You shine a new ball differently. When the ball is old and it is reversing. sometimes you put more sweat. When the ball is not reversing you are only using spit. When there is a new ball you only put very, very little spit wherever there is a scratch. What I’m trying to say is there are several different ways of shining the ball.Let’s say a Test match is on and the ball, SG Test, is semi-new, about 25 overs old. But it is not reversing and the ball has become a bit soft. Umpire is refusing to replace the ball. Now if you put too much spit on SG Test the ball gets more and more softer. Then you don’t get the zip as a fast bowler or even as a spinner.Also you have to make sure that your team-mates are not using too much sweat or spit in such a scenario. I was told by [Javagal] Srinath when I was young when to shine and not to and similarly I passed the tips to other youngsters – that it is better to keep the run-rate tight and once the ball starts to reverse when it is a bit more old then we can apply sweat or spit to facilitate further swing.So legalising use of some artificial substances to shine the ball under supervision is not suddenly going to help swing the ball. Because you are used to working on the ball naturally using spit and sweat at different points on different balls in different conditions on different surfaces.I feel a better choice could be to allow a team to pick one player who will be specifically in charge of using saliva on the ball when there is a need to shine. That is a much better alternative because that way we can continue to naturally work on the ball.By permitting artificial substances to aid swing, the ICC is going back on its own rules. But as far as I am concerned allowing wax, vaseline etc on the ball is not exactly equivalent to ball-tampering. If it actually says go ahead and rough the ball from the other side, then probably the bowlers will welcome the move. Because with a bit of practice, the bowlers will dominate the batsmen, who are bound to say it is unfair. But if you are saying the artificial substance is allowed to be used only on the shiny side and the other side cannot be touched, then you might see more instances of teams piling huge totals.Personally I feel not allowing the use of sweat or saliva is once again murdering the bowlers.
Bipin PatelI don’t understand the logic: Michael Holding
I have read that ICC is contemplating preventing people from using saliva on the ball due to Covid-19 and allowing them to use foreign substances on the ball to keep the shine on but in front of the umpire. I don’t understand the logic behind that.Before they got to that point they said, if they restart cricket, it has to be played in a bio-secure environment. They were saying cricketers, for instance, would have to isolate themselves for two weeks to make sure that everything was fine for when they got to the venue before the match started. And everyone involved (with the match) will have to do the same thing.Now if you are saying everyone is in the bio-secure environment, you are staying in the same hotel, you are not moving for the length of time you are playing the matches, if that is the case, why are you worried about someone’s saliva? That person, according to what you are doing, should be free of Covid-19. If the ICC thinks that the two-week period to prove that you are free of Covid-19 is not foolproof, then that means you are putting everyone in that environment in jeopardy? Why would you want to play cricket under those circumstances? It’s either safe or it’s not. No guessing, please.

Not possible to prevent a bowler using his sweat or saliva – Waqar Younis
As a fast bowler, I reject this because this [using saliva and sweat] is a natural process. A ball exchanges hands all day. You run in, huffing and puffing, so you sweat and that gets on the ball. Also, using saliva is natural rather than on intent. It’s a habit and you just can’t control this aspect.I don’t know how this discussion came up, but I feel people who want the game to be played are frustrated with the lockdown. They are overthinking it. I doubt this new idea of using (artificial) substance instead of saliva is a solution. You can make a bowler use a predefined substance on the ball, but at the same time, practically it’s not possible to prevent a bowler using his sweat or saliva.
AFPInterested to hear what big-name batsmen have to say – Allan Donald
I absolutely agree with legalising ball-tampering. I said so in an article sometime in the 2000s. It happens anyway. We see guys throwing the ball on the ground and umpires say to throw it up and it’s pretty obvious what they are doing.It could work if it is well-monitored. There’s no reason why, if you are really struggling at the SCG and you are looking for reverse swing, you shouldn’t be able to try and get some by working the ball. It evens the game out.I don’t mean you should be able to bring bottle tops onto the field or bite the ball, but I genuinely think there is scope for working on the ball, if it is well controlled. For example, maybe you could throw the ball into the ground for a period of time and that that time elapses. I had never thought of shoe polish. I suppose you’d take a whole box out there and get buffing.When I first started, I had a chat with the great Imran Khan and he told me they used to wet one side of the ball a lot, with moisture, with sweat and get it heavy and keep the other side shiny. It was hard work and it took a long time, so if there’s another way, that might also work. We know in baseball they use something, I think it’s still a mystery, to get the ball to swing in and dip.I’m quite surprised to hear this is being considered. It’s quite enlightening. I’d be interested to hear what the big-name batsmen have to say about this because I am sure there will be a few comments. But I say if there’s anything that can work, we might as well give it a crack.
How will they monitor what substance to be used – Azhar Mahmood
I don’t mind such a move although I am more interested in how they will monitor what the substance to be used is. I think the ball manufacturers could have a big role to play in what is used, as they will know best what kind of substance is best suited to the leather that is being used on the ball. It could be that bowlers are allowed to use a small bottle, like a hand sanitiser bottle, of the substance to use as shine on the ball.”

Four other instances of players redeeming themselves after a horrendous beginning

Debayan Sen28-Sep-2020On Sunday evening in Sharjah, after scoring just eight runs from 19 balls, Rahul Tewatia was completely out of sorts and fast proving to be the reason the Rajasthan Royals would fail in their bold march towards achieving the highest chase in the IPL. Then just in a matter of eight balls, including six sixes, Tewatia did the impossible, becoming a hero from a villain instantaneously.Following are four such instances of players redeeming themselves after a horrendous beginning.Malinga stops CSK’s pounding heartThe 2019 IPL final in Hyderabad pitted the league’s two most successful franchises against each other. The Mumbai Indians had posted a modest 149 on the board, and after a steady start, captain Rohit Sharma’s best-laid plans were faltering in the face of controlled aggression from the blade of Shane Watson. Watson took a special liking to Lasith Malinga, scoring at a strike rate of 200 against the Sri Lankan spearhead, who travelled for 42 off his three overs with the last over looming, in which the Chennai Super Kings needed nine to win.Malinga bowled the last over, with Watson taking strike on 76 from 56 – the only other options could have been either of the Pandya brothers or Kieron Pollard, who had not bowled in the match till that point. This is where Malinga showed his value, bowling full, fast, and with subtle variations of line. Watson could take just four off the first three balls and was run-out looking to come back for the second off the next ball. With four runs required, Malinga conceded two to Shardul Thakur and then executed the near-perfect bluff, a floating yorker on the middle stump that the batsman failed to connect.Travis Head bangs into 2016In terms of similarity with Tewatia’s heroics, Travis Head’s virtually single-handed blitz to help the Adelaide Strikers win a home BBL game on the last day of 2015 against the Sydney Sixers must rank right up there. The Strikers were chasing 177 and Head wasn’t exactly smoking it around the Adelaide Oval, batting on 45 from 38 from No. 4, when Adil Rashid joined him at the fall of the fifth wicket in the 17th over. The equation at the end of that over read 51 needed from 18 balls, exactly the same facing Tewatia in Sharjah.Head’s scoring sequence from there read thus: 4, 6, 4, 6, 6, 1, 0, 2, 2, 6, 0, 1, 6, 6, 6. Sean Abbott conceded 45 from nine balls as Head scored 56 all off his bat to win the game for the Strikers with three balls and five wickets to spare. In the process, he brought up the small matter of the first BBL century for his team.Shane Watson’s 117 is the highest individual score in an IPL final•BCCIIshant denies England Champions TrophyThe 2013 ICC Champions Trophy final at Edgbaston became a 20-over shootout thanks to the weather, but the odds were pretty much in the home side’s favour with three overs to go, and 28 needed to gun down India’s modest 129, especially with Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara both well set. Ishant Sharma had gone for 27 off his three overs, and with Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and spinners all yet to have bowled out, it seemed a gamble to hand Ishant the ball for the 18th over, especially after Morgan smacked a long hop second ball for six. Ishant then sprayed one wide from over the wicket and repeated the same after changing his angle, and all seemed lost.A slower ball saw Morgan miscue one towards midwicket, and off the very next ball, Bopara picked square leg against another short delivery. R Ashwin had two catches in two balls, and the match had transformed in a jiffy. The next two balls fetched just a single for Tim Bresnan, and Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin combined squeezed the life out of the English chase in the next two overs, leaving India winners by five runs.Watson joins dots for powerful finishAnother IPL final featuring the Super Kings, and another time Watson was at the forefront. The 2018 final in Mumbai featured the Sunrisers Hyderabad, who had set a competitive target of 179. Watson came out to open with Faf du Plessis and struggled for rhythm early on against the tight lines and swing obtained by Sandeep Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. At one stage in the fourth over, the Super Kings were at 11, and Watson had just faced his tenth ball without scoring. He drilled one boundary off the next ball, but du Plessis fell in trying to force the pace off the last ball of the over.With 5 off 13 at one stage, Watson was really struggling, until a hoick off Sandeep through the leg side fetched him his first six, and from there, he was a man transformed. His unbeaten 117 came off just 57 balls, included 11 fours and eight sixes and gave CSK the title with a thumping eight-wicket victory against one of the best bowling attacks in the league.

A look at the top bowling pairs in Test cricket

Bharath Seervi & Shiva Jayaraman30-Jul-2020Did You Know895 The aggregate wickets by James Anderson (473) and Stuart Broad (422) in the 117 Tests they have played together, the most by a fast-bowling pair. If we consider all bowling pairs, only one has taken more wickets playing together – Glenn McGrath (488) and Shane Warne (513) picked up 1001 wickets in 104 Tests. The next highest aggregate by a pace-bowling pair is 762 in 95 Tests by the West Indies duo of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh. Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram took 559 wickets in 61 Tests together, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel 522 in 62 matches, and Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh 501 wickets in 54 Tests.ESPNcricinfo Ltd750 Wickets by Warne and McGrath in the 71 Tests that Australia won, easily the most by any pair. Anderson and Broad have the most by a fast-bowling pair (480 in 52 Test wins).6 Number of times Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas combined to take all the bowler wickets in an all-out innings, the most by a pair. Three pairs – Kumble-Harbhajan, Hugh Trumble-Monty Noble and Jim Laker-Tony Lock – are next with five such instances. Broad and Anderson have done it three times.

Also, Pant and Pujara break a 72-year-old record

Gaurav Sundararaman11-Jan-20211979 – The previous time India batted for longer in the fourth innings than the 132 overs they batted in this Test. On that occasion, India batted 150 overs against England at The Oval to save the Test. The Oval and SCG Tests included, India have batted longer than 100 overs in the fourth innings of a Test on only five occasions since 1979.ESPNcricinfo Ltd6 – Number of instances of any team batting more than 130 overs (or the equivalent of 130 six-ball overs) to save a Test in Australia. It has happened only twice since 1971. The previous instance was when South Africa batted 148 overs in 2012.256 – Balls played by Hanuma Vihari and R Ashwin in their sixth-wicket partnership. There have only been three instances of more balls played for the sixth wicket in the fourth innings, in a win or a draw. The highest is 353, by Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer against Pakistan in Hobart in 1999.Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant broke a 72-year-old record•Getty Images2 – Number of longer sixth-wicket stands for India in the fourth innings. The 256 balls played by Vihari and Ashwin helped India to draw, but the top two instances came in losses: KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant added 204 in 267 balls in 2018 against England, while Sachin Tendulkar and Nayan Mongia batted 266 balls in 1999 against Pakistan.148 – Runs added by Cheteshwar Pujara and Pant for the fourth wicket. This is the highest fourth-innings fourth-wicket stand for India, eclipsing a 72-year-old record held by Vijay Hazare and Rusi Modi, who added 139 against West Indies in Mumbai.Related

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97 – Pant’s knock was the second-highest score by a visiting wicketkeeper in the fourth innings in Australia. Only England’s Alan Knott scored more than this, in 1975 in Adelaide. Pant has scored 512 runs at an average of 56.88 in 10 innings in Australia, and has scored 25 or more in each of his ten innings there.3 – Wickets lost on the final day by India. Only once since 2001 has three or fewer wickets fallen on the final day in Australia. This was when South Africa played 126 overs to save a Test in Perth in 2005.128 – Balls faced by R Ashwin in the fourth innings – it ranks fifth on the list of most balls faced by an India No. 7 in the fourth innings.134 – Innings played by Pujara to reach the 6000-run mark in Tests, making him the 11th from India to get to that milestone. Only five of them have taken fewer innings to get there: Sunil Gavaskar (117), Virat Kohli (119), Sachin Tendulkar (120), Virender Sehwag (123) and Rahul Dravid (125).

The men do know what they need to do – if only they did it often enough

Andrew Fidel Fernando25-Jan-2021Batting conscience: All right, we’ve got a lead of 37. Nice one. I mean, it could have been more, but in these conditions, 37 is nothing to scoff at. They’ll be worried. Lasith Embuldeniya only needs stare at their openers for them to wet themselves. Most of their batting order doesn’t look too comfortable. But there’s that bloody Joe Root. Getting outside the line, sweeping the offies, reverse-sweeping the left-arm spinner like a demon, using the depth of the crease. Fu! He’s in ridiculous touch, and we have to make sure we put the lead beyond him. Let’s get ourselves in, get some partnerships going. Really knuckle down today. I’m feeling good. We’ve got this.Batsman: Hahah yeeaah, s***w you, I’m not doing any of that.Conscience: Uhh, what?Batsman: Look, buddy, I’ve listened to you for the last two innings. We’ve passed 350 twice. We’ve applied ourselves just like you said and very seriously blocked out James Anderson and, oh, so carefully batted longer than a day and gritted it out and showed restraint and ohmygod I’m falling asleep just thinking about it. But I’m sick of that negative approach trash. It’s “me” time now.Conscience: Got to say I’m a bit surprised. You do know the Test and the series are on the line, right? And that they won the first Test, and they’ve won their last four in a row in Sri Lanka? Do you really want to be the team that gave up five Tests out of five to England?Batsman: Wow, look at Mr Booksmarts over here. Lighten up, bro. Hahah.Related

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Conscience: I feel like you’re really not listening to reason. But ok, look, just to get on the same wavelength, I’ll cut you a deal. What if you get out there, and play your first 30 balls normally? Once you’ve got yourself going and are feeling good, then we can talk about aggressive shots.Batsman: Man, 30 balls! Are you joking? That’s like, six overs or something, right? Like a whole powerplay? You want me to bat out a powerplay? It’s not the year 1900.Conscience: [Sighs deeply] First of all this is a Test match. Secondly 30 balls is just five ov….Batsman: Gaaaaaaawd listen to yourself talk, Grandpa. Live life. You’re in Galle, bud. Look at that ocean, those coconut trees swaying. Smell the flowers man like the hummingbirds in the garden over there…Conscience: Ok but Sri Lanka has no hummingbi…Batsman: And another thing. How are you gonna tell me to be worried when their spinners are Jack Leach and Dom Bess, man? They’re playing at Galle and couldn’t even get a single wicket in the first innings.Be a bit more like Joe Root? Sure, reverse sweep coming up…•SLCConscience:They literally got 14 wickets between them in the last match, which they won.Batsman: Oh, but that was a fluke. You know it was a fluke. I know it was a fluke. Everyone knows it was a fluke. You can’t read into that. We just batted reeeeaaally badly in that first innings.Conscience: What do you think I’m trying to stop you from doing again?Batsman: Whoa, hey. This is your problem. You’re so tense all the time. You saw how Joe Root scored all his runs yesterday, he was loose and positive and fun. And he swept the ball. Did you see those sweeps? I’m definitely going to get me a piece of that. Anyway, you should be more like Root.Conscience: No, should be more like Root you idio… [Inhales] Look, so if you’re going to sweep, can you promise me that you’re not going to try the slog sweep too early, and that you’re going to sweep with the turn?Batsman: Sure.Conscience: Really?Batsman: Haaaah, ok, you got me. No, not at all. I’m just going to sweep, man. With the spin, against the spin, non-slog, slog, what’s even the difference?Conscience: There’s a GIGANTIC difference!Batsman: Uhhh, only if you’re not very good at executing your shots, duh. Did I mention we scored 350-plus in the last two innings?Conscience: [Sighs] Against my judgment, I’m going to try one more time. Your poor team-mate Lasith Embuldeniya has bowled 42 overs in the first innings, which just wrapped up this morning. He’s probably going to be our main threat again in the second innings. If for no other reason, then just for him, can you please make sure the team bats a couple of sessions?Batsman: For Embula? Sure, I’ll bat carefully for him.Conscience: You won’t, will you?Batsman: Nope. Not at all.