Six and Out - Some Serious Cricket

Ball tampering scandal at The Oval

by SixandOut on August 20th, 2006

Well well well. This is incredible. For anyone not watching Sky Sports at the moment, I can’t believe what I’m seeing. You must read this!

UPDATED BELOW.

I’ll try to summarise:

About midway through the second session, umpires Darell Hair and Billy Doctrove switched the cricket ball and awarded England 5 penalty runs. The implication being that Pakistan have been tampering with the ball. It’s a very serious accusation, and there is currently no video footage to prove or disprove it. The players then came off for Bad Light and took an early tea. David Gower, Beefy and Athers did their usual commentary on the whole debacle, but it was agreed that until there was some sort of statement from the match referee or the Umpires, then they couldn’t say a lot more.

But THEN… after tea, the Umpires went to the field, the batsmen went to the field but the Pakistan team refused to take to the field. It’s all unravelling now as we speak so I really can’t say much more. But it really looks like Pakistan have forfeited the game on the grounds of the decision. The biggest problem is that no one has a clue what’s going on - no announcements have been made, no-one has been told anything.

Some background, from Cricinfo:

At the end of the 56th over, bowled by Danish Kaneria, Darrell Hair went over to Billy Doctrove and was seen pointing at the quarter seam. The fourth umpire, Trevor Jesty, then brought out a box of balls and the England batsmen, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood, were allowed to choose the next one to be used, in accordance with the Laws.

Law 42.3 states that in “the event of any fielder changing the condition of the ball unfairly … the umpires shall award five penalty runs to the batting side.” The Law explains that it is “unfair for anyone to rub the ball on the ground for any reason, interfere with any of the seams on the surface of the ball, use any implement, or take any other action whatsoever which is likely to alter the condition of the ball.”

The only exceptions to this rule are polishing the ball, removing mud from it and drying a wet ball on a towel. Playing regulation 42.1.2 (b) for this series also says: “In the event that a ball has been interfered with and requires replacement the batsman at the wicket shall choose the replacement ball from a selection of six other balls of various degrees of usage (including a new ball) and of the same brand as in use prior to the contravention.”

This is HUGE in the history of cricket. And still very exciting.

More soon!

UPDATE:

After about 20 minutes of having no idea what’s going on, it seems play might resume. The covers are starting to come off the pitch. This came as a result of a lot of door-slamming of the Pakistan dressing room doors, and then some senior Pakistani cricket bods appear to have had a word with the team. Match referee Mike Proctor has still made no statement.

UPDATE:

Pakistani players have emerged from their dressing room and taken to boos and jeers from the largely English crowd. It now seems the Umpires are refusing to take to the field. The England batsmen Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell are still hanging about with their helmets on, clearly having no idea what’s going on.

UPDATE:

The Pakistani players are now leaving the field again. The crowd looks bemused. Sky Sports commentators, David Gower Ian Botham and Nasser Hussein are still banging on about the fact no statement has been made.

UPDATE:

Play has been suspended for the day, though the match has not officially been abandoned, forfeited or conceded. Talks between the “appropriate” bodies will take place now and a statement will at some point be made. It now seems the sticking point are the Umpires - Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove - as all other interested parties - the England and Wales Cricket Board, the Pakistan Cricket Board, the ICC, the teams, the players have all said they want to play - it now rests on whether the umpires will resume. And of course that all boils down to exactly what has happened, what has been said behind closed doors, and whether or not the Umpires actually have valid grounds for making the accusations of ball tampering. Not much more can be said until we hear something more!

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