the young player got suspended for 9 months, capt and vice captain suspended for a year (vice captain instigated it). Unlike baseball, the condition of the ball is a major thing. The ball only gets replaced every 480 pitches (legal ones… add in any extras). It’s also shiny leather with a single major seam. The players legally polish (rub on their shirts / trousers) one side of the ball to help it swing in the air. Fast bowlers bowl with the seam upright to generate swing in the air, and deviation off the pitch when it bounces. This particular ball was getting old – and by using a small piece of sandpaper to scuff one side, the player was apparently trying to generate “Reverse Swing”. The team the Aussies were playing have been guilty of similar things in the past (although it doesn’t forgive the Aussies for doing it) by using a mint in the mouth to polish the ball and rubbing it on the zip of the trousers to abrade it. “It’s just not cricket, you know”
the young player got suspended for 9 months, capt and vice captain suspended for a year (vice captain instigated it). Unlike baseball, the condition of the ball is a major thing. The ball only gets replaced every 480 pitches (legal ones… add in any extras). It’s also shiny leather with a single major seam. The players legally polish (rub on their shirts / trousers) one side of the ball to help it swing in the air. Fast bowlers bowl with the seam upright to generate swing in the air, and deviation off the pitch when it bounces. This particular ball was getting old – and by using a small piece of sandpaper to scuff one side, the player was apparently trying to generate “Reverse Swing”. The team the Aussies were playing have been guilty of similar things in the past (although it doesn’t forgive the Aussies for doing it) by using a mint in the mouth to polish the ball and rubbing it on the zip of the trousers to abrade it. “It’s just not cricket, you know”