What is Ball Tampering in Cricket?

Introduction

We all know that cricket is regarded as a sport of traditions and the idea of fair play, but not every player sticks to these values. Just like in any professional league, cricket has its own controversial moments, and one of the most shocking is that of ball tampering.  

If you’re interested in learning more about the sport and how to analyse games effectively, you can check out the latest cricket betting odds. In this guide, we’ll delve into this illegal act, but in essence, tampering a cricket ball involves changing the state of the ball to gain an advantage when bowling.

Despite the wrongfulness, many instances of tampering have plagued cricket over the years. Let’s look at why players do it, the techniques used, and a few examples of scandalous moments when cricketers have been caught cheating.

Ball Tampering Meaning

When a player tampers with the ball, they have knowingly changed its condition to enhance its swing or movement. The bowling side wants the ball to act erratically so that batters find it difficult to judge its position and score less runs or be dismissed. Sandpaper or even bottle caps can be used to alter the ball.

For a deeper dive into the rules and history of cricket, our Cricket Guides offer expert insights.

 Cricket Ball Maintenance: Legal vs. Illegal Methods

Legal Methods	Illegal Methods	Impact on Ball Behaviour
Polishing with sweat/saliva*	Applying artificial substances	Enhances conventional swing
Drying with towel	Scratching with fingernails/objects	Creates reverse swing
Removing mud with umpire permission	Using bottle caps/sandpaper	Affects bounce consistency
Cleaning seam debris	Picking/lifting seam	Increases unpredictability

The Physics Behind Ball Tampering in Cricket

We must only think about aerodynamics when considering the actual science and physics of tampering. How the ball moves through the air and bounces off the pitch is central to how fast and spin bowlers can confuse the batter.

Of course, the seam of the cricket ball, weather, pitch conditions, and how new the ball itself is will all factor into the movement, but tampering takes it to another level.

Basic aerodynamics of a cricket ball

As you may know, a cricket ball is made up of a cork core that is wrapped in string layers and then covered in leather. The seam is crucial for aerodynamics, and when the bowler releases the ball from their hand, the rougher side of the ball will make the air to move less smoothly and cause a drag effect, and the shinier side actually decreases drag and creates a swing effect. This is why you’ll often see the bowling team rub one side of the ball on their shirt or trousers, for example (although this is perfectly legal in cricket).

The effects of certain ball tampering methods

Cricket players will tamper with the ball to alter the condition significantly and make it far more unpredictable to batters. A common type of tampering is to roughen up one side by several means, including fingernails, bottle caps, or sandpaper. This will simply intensify the difference between the rough side and the smooth side of the ball, which leads to more turn and swing.

A rougher side aids in reverse swing, too, which will happen when an older cricket ball will swing in the other direction to the seam orientation. Reverse swing is incredibly hard to play when travelling at high speeds, even for experienced batters.

Making one side of the cricket ball shinier is another way to tamper. Rubbing the ball on a shirt or trousers is legal and acceptable, as is increasing the shine by rubbing saliva or sweat onto the ball. However, it’s not legal to apply lotions, creams, or even mints to the ball.

These methods are difficult for umpires to notice and players are often successful when tampering with the shine. This will make the ball swing more than usual and make a batters’ task of predicting the movement much harder.

The advantages for the bowling team are immense after ball tampering, and it’s easy to see why so many players still seek for an unfair benefit when competing. If bowlers can take wickets or prevent batters from hitting runs with better ball swing, then the chances of winning the match are much higher.

Evolution of Ball Tampering Techniques Through Cricket Eras

Just like cricket bats and protective equipment has change over the years, so too have players sought for new ways to gain an advantage through tampering. These are cheating methods that have evolved since the 1960s to our modern day in cricket.

➡️ 1960s-70s: Early Vaseline and sweat usage

It was typical to see common substances such as Vaseline to shine one side of the cricket ball back in the 60’s and 70’s. With one side much smoother than the other, the ball would swing considerably more and gave the bowler such an advantage. Of course, it was much harder to spot players tampering with limited technology and camera usage.

➡️ 1980s: Bottle caps and fingernail scratching

Ball tampering methods were on the rise and it wasn’t unusual for players to hide bottle caps for use on the ball, or even simply scratch with long fingernails to roughen up one side. The ball would see considerable swing after one roughened side and this tampering could be achieved without anyone noticing.

➡️ 1990s: Advanced reverse swing techniques

It really wasn’t until the 1990’s when reverse swing became a real tactic in bowling. Icons like Wasim Akram and Dale Steyn were particularly good at reversing the swing of the ball. With reverse swing such an effective tool in bamboozling batters, tampering became even more widespread to create unpredictable bowling.

➡️ 2000s: Professional team strategies emerge

By the 2000s, it was common to find teams actually working together on a tampering strategy to ensure that bowlers had the best chance of moving and turning the ball. Players in the field were quick and subtle in using many techniques to tamper with the ball and disguising these actions were normal, making it difficult to spot.

➡️ 2010s: High-tech approaches and Sandpaper scandal

Even though tampering came with heavy penalties, players would still find new ways to roughen up or smooth one side of the ball. The use of sandpaper to roughen one side was becoming noticeable and yet another way to cheat.

However, not every team was getting away with tampering, as during a Test Match between Australia and South Africa in 2018, the Aussies were detected using sandpaper on the ball (known as Sandpapergate) and this scandal quickly became the biggest ball tampering in cricket incident in the modern era. It was a surprise to see tampering still active at the highest level of the game.

➡️ Present day: Enhanced monitoring and detection

Although it’s sure that some players will still attempt tampering, it’s actually much harder to get away it with due to the development of new technology. Ball-tracking systems, high-speed cameras, and new types of imaging tech all help to spot any use of tampering during the cricket match.

Expert Perspective

Cricket Analyst, Dhruv, shares his expert opinion:

"Ball tampering is seen as gaining an unfair advantage and ‘cheating’. The sandpaper incident involving Australia brought about a lot of scrutiny on ball tampering with heavy punishment, whereas, before that, multiple cricketers from multiple nations had been caught ball tampering and received only a slap on the wrist. 

Cricketers around the world are now aware that every movement of theirs is tracked in Ultra HD and ball-tampering is very rare. It is usually limited to domestic matches where the coverage is limited. Hyper-competitive athletes always push the boundaries looking for a win, though, so it is never truly going to go away."

Detection and Prevention of Ball Tempering

The ICC has established many methods to prevent and detect any ball tampering, in the hopes that players refrain from cheating and stick to the rules.

Official inspection procedures

During the course of play, umpires can inspect the ball at any point if they suspect tampering. Umpires will check for certain irregularities, such as unusual rough spots, uncommonly bright shine, or use of substances on one side.

It’s not odd to see umpires inspect the ball during regular points in the match. Even if they don’t suspect any player is tampering, it’s nevertheless a good way to prevent teams from cheating if they know an umpire can spot it. The idea is to check for any unusual changes to the ball and the seam aside from typical degradation during the course of match, particularly in ODI or Test cricket.

Technologies used in tampering detection

Thankfully, technology advances are helping umpires to check ball tampering in cricket with increased accuracy. High-speed cameras are filming players all over the ground, and ball-tracking systems can monitor the movement throughout the match to see if any unusual turn is being spotted.

Famous Ball Tampering Scandals That Shocked Cricket

As you might expect, there have been several tampering scandals that have shocked the cricketing world and put a spotlight on cheating in the game. Here are a few of the most infamous tampering moments.

Sandpaper scandal (2018)

This may well be the biggest tampering incident that cricket has ever seen, mostly because it is still considered to be in the modern era and from a country that has been hugely successful in the sport. During a Test series tour of South Africa, Australian players Cameron Bancroft, David Warner (vice-captain) and Steve Smith (captain) were caught in a sandpaper tampering effort to change the ball.

While Bancroft was the actual player discovered with sandpaper on the field to tamper with the ball, Smith and Warner were aware of the tactic and actively encouraged it. All players were handed considerable bans, with Smith and Warner given one year and stripped of their captaincy roles and Bancroft given a nine-month ban.

Pakistan forfeiture (2006)

During a Test match against England in 2006, Pakistan’s bowlers were caught using illegal methods to tamper with the cricket ball, and as a result, the team was given a penalty to forfeit the match. It’s rare that an entire match is forfeited due to the presence of ball tampering, but umpires were forced to take action after discovering the cheating.

Mike Atherton’s dirt in pocket (1994)

During a Test match against South Africa in 1994, England’s Mike Atherton was found having dirt in his pocket, which he was using to shine the ball. Atherton was given a £2,000 fine and this led to far more scrutiny over ball tampering and whether this tactic was likely being used at international Test level more than anyone thought. Atherton claimed he was using dirt to keep his hands dry, but nevertheless accepted the fine and didn’t protest.

Faf du Plessis’ zipper incident (2013)

The South African captain has been involved in several ball-tampering scandals during his career. During a tour of Australia in 2016, du Plessis was discovered to be sucking on mints and then using his saliva to apply shine to one side of the ball. Du Plessis was also seen to be scuffing the cricket ball on his trouser zipper in an attempt to rough up one side in a Test match against Pakistan in 2013. Du Plessis was given fines for both instances.

Shahid Afridi takes a bite (2010)

In a tour of Australia in 2010, Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi was found to be tampering with the ball during an ODI match with a somewhat bizarre method. Afridi was seen by TV cameras to be biting the ball and denied at the time that he had been tampering, but later admitted his actions and was promptly given a two-match ban.

Media and Public Reaction

It’s no surprise that the media and general public always react hugely negatively to any instance of ball tampering by any player. Fans and journalists alike seek to have the game of cricket as fair and legal as possible, and anyone caught tampering deserves a severe punishment, such as a fine or match ban, especially in this modern era of cricket.

The ICC often includes advanced systems to detect and find out tampering methods on the field and is getting stricter and harsher with any penalty for anyone found to be cheating. Any player, regardless of their skill on the cricket pitch, often has a stain on their reputation when found to be tampering with the ball. Smith and Warner, especially, are regarded as some of the greatest batters to play the game, yet still have a mark of disrepute attached to their names because of the tampering act.

What is ball tampering and the future? While it seems likely that tampering will always occur at some point, players and umpires have generally been much better in stamping out any methods used to alter the ball. After all, who doesn’t love to watch a great cricket match based on talent, tactics, and fair play?