*KARACHI: Pakistan’s masters of reverse-swinging a cricket ball haveunanimously defended it as an “art” which can be achieved without thetampering that ended in shameful bans for three Australian players.*
Steve Smith had to step down as Australia captain and David Warner as vicecaptain after they orchestrated ball-tampering through batsman CameronBancroft in the Cape Town Test against South Africa last week.
Bancroft was found to have used a piece of sandpaper in an attempt to alterthe condition of the ball while on the field to create swing forAustralia’s bowlers and deceive the South African batsmen.
Cricket Australia came down hard, handing a one-year ban each to Smith andWarner and nine months to Bancroft for sullying the country’s sportingimage.
In Pakistan, an internet meme swept social media appearing to showlegendary pacemen Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis smiling over theincident — with a caption that accused the Australians of being “amateurs”in their efforts to create reverse swing.
Former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz — widely regarded as a pioneer ofreverse swing — refused to accept the implication that the skill requiresball-tampering.
link>Sarfaraz Nawaz
“This is ridiculous to say reverse swing is cheating,” Sarfraz told AFP.“You can achieve reverse swing without tampering with the ball.
“There is a conventional swing which is done with the new ball and thenthere is reverse swing which is achieved with an old ball and it has beenproved in laboratories that reverse swing is a scientific phenomenon.”
Sarfraz took 177 wickets in 55 Tests, including an amazing nine for 86against Australia at Melbourne in 1979 that included a spell of sevenwickets for a mere one run in 33 balls.
*– ‘It was and will remain an art’ –*
“When I passed the art to Imran Khan he developed it and then taught WasimAkram and Waqar Younis, and in those times everyone called it cheating butwhen the Englishmen started to reverse swing it became an art,” saidSarfraz.
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“It was and will remain an art, but resorting to tampering is cheating andthat was what Australians did to beat South Africa and were deservedlypunished.
“Conventional swing is simple — if the seam is angled toward the slipfielders it will swing away from the right-handed batsman, and if the seamis angled towards the leg side it will swing into the batsman,” explainedSarfraz. “Reverse swing is totally opposite.”
Sarfraz passed the art to Imran, who achieved more success than his masterbut also confessed to ball-tampering by using a bottle top to roughen oneside of the ball.
Asked in a 1994 television interview whether he would have got 362 Testwickets had he not tampered with the ball, Imran replied: “Yes, it’s amisconception that whoever scratches the ball can get wickets.
“The whole Sussex team knew I could reverse swing and I would swing at oneend while other bowlers could not swing it,” said Imran, who played for theEnglish county.
*– ‘Sultan of Swing’ –*
Imran passed the torch to Wasim and Waqar — regarded as one ofinternational cricket’s most destructive new-ball pairings.
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The two ripped through England’s batsmen on Pakistan’s 1992 tour, but werealso alleged by British media to have tampered with the ball. Wasimexcelled for English county Lancashire for a decade while Waqar starred forGlamorgan and Surrey.
“Those allegations were hurtful,” recalled Waqar. “Of course, reverse swingcan be achieved without cheating. Nowadays most of the bowlers do that andget wickets and help their teams win.”
While Wasim — nicknamed the “Sultan of Swing” — was never caught tampering,Waqar was slapped with a one-match suspension and fined 50 percent of hismatch fee in a tri-series in Sri Lanka in 2000.
Waqar suggested only one brand of cricket ball should be used ininternational cricket, saying it would lead to a fairer contest.
“Why do we use different brand of balls in different countries?” Waqarasked. “In my opinion the Duke ball is the best and the SG comes close toit. They are the best balls for swing so in order to have uniformity andbetter swing these balls should be used everywhere.
“This will help bowlers and this will also produce better batsmen. Weshould solve the problem and not indulge in the blame game.” APP/AFP