In the sport of cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

, ball tampering is an action in which a fielder

Fielding (cricket)

Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the batsman, in such a way as to either limit the number of runs that the batsman scores or get the batsman out by catching the ball in flight or running the batsman out.Cricket fielding position...

 illegally alters the condition of the ball

Cricket ball

A cricket ball is a hard, solid leather ball used to play cricket. Constructed of cork and leather, a cricket ball is heavily regulated by cricket law at first class level...

. Under Law 42

Fair and unfair play

Law 42 of the laws of the sport of cricket covers fair and unfair play. This law has developed and expanded over time as various incidents of real life unfair play have been legislated against....

, subsection 3 of the Laws of Cricket

Laws of cricket

The laws of cricket are a set of rules established by the Marylebone Cricket Club which describe the laws of cricket worldwide, to ensure uniformity and fairness. There are currently 42 laws, which outline all aspects of how the game is played from how a team wins a game, how a batsman is...

, the ball may be polished without the use of an artificial substance, may be dried with a towel if it is wet, and have mud removed from it under supervision; all other actions which alter the condition of the ball are illegal. These are usually taken to include rubbing the ball on the ground, scuffing with a fingernail or other sharp object, or tampering with the seam

Quarter seam

The Quarter seam is the tiny seam which runs around a cricket ball at 90 degrees to the large, raised seam.While the main seam can be 'picked at' - loosening the threads - in order to create conventional swing when the ball is relatively new, more recently, an understanding has evolved that the...

 of the ball.

Purpose

Generally, the purpose of altering the state of the ball is to achieve more favourable bowling conditions. A fielder may apply a substance, such as lip balm or sweetened saliva, to shine one side of the ball or pick the seam of the ball to encourage more swing

Swing bowling

Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling.-Physics of swing bowling:...

. Conversely, one side of the ball can be roughened by use of an abrasive or cutting surface (such as boot spikes or bottle caps). The use of sweetened saliva was shown to be particularly useful in obtaining Reverse swing in the 2005 Ashes series

2005 Ashes series

The 2005 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 21 July 2005, England and Australia played five Tests, with the Ashes held by Australia as the most recent victors...

.

Altering a ball legally

Using spit and/or sweat is common and, for practitioners of swing bowling

Swing bowling

Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling.-Physics of swing bowling:...

, integral. The moisture gained from spit or sweat when combined with polishing, smooths out one half of the ball which in turn allows air to pass over one side of the ball quicker than the other. When bowled correctly, a bowler can get the ball to move from one side to the other through the air. Also, it is not unusual for bowlers to rub the ball against their legs to clean it as it has been seen in almost every cricket match.
,.

Sanction

The umpires

Umpire (cricket)

In cricket, an umpire is a person who has the authority to make judgements on the cricket field, according to the Laws of Cricket...

 are responsible for monitoring the condition of the ball, and must inspect it regularly. Where an umpire has deemed a fielder to be guilty of ball-tampering, five penalty runs are awarded to the batting side, and the ball must be immediately replaced. The replaced ball is normally chosen by the umpires, in which case the ball chosen should match the condition of the previous ball (before tampering) as closely as possible. Depending on additional agreements laid out before the beginning of a series of matches, the batsmen may be instead permitted to choose the ball from a selection of balls in various stages of use.

A bowler guilty of ball-tampering can be prohibited from continuing to bowl in that innings if he is found to be repeatedly ball-tampering. Following the conclusion of play, additional sanctions are usually brought against a ball-tamperer, as it is considered a serious offence. The captain

Captain (cricket)

The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...

 may be equally penalized, as he is responsible for the conduct of his players on the field.

Examples

The use of foreign substances to polish the ball, while illegal, is in some corners considered to be relatively common, and passes without incident or sanction. Substances which are suggested for this purpose include hair gel

Hair gel

Hair gel is a hairstyling product that is used to stiffen hair into a particular hairstyle. The results it produces are usually similar to, but stronger than, those of hair spray and hair wax, and weaker than those of hair glue.-Types:...

, sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

 and lip balm

Lip balm

Lip balm or lip salve is a wax-like substance applied topically to the lips of the mouth to relieve chapped or dry lips, angular cheilitis, stomatitis, or cold sores. Lip balm often contains beeswax or carnauba wax, camphor, cetyl alcohol, lanolin, paraffin, and petrolatum, among other ingredients...

.

In addition, picking at the threads of the main seam or 'lifting' the quarter seam

Quarter seam

The Quarter seam is the tiny seam which runs around a cricket ball at 90 degrees to the large, raised seam.While the main seam can be 'picked at' - loosening the threads - in order to create conventional swing when the ball is relatively new, more recently, an understanding has evolved that the...

 to aid conventional and reverse swing

Swing bowling

Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling.-Physics of swing bowling:...

 respectively are considered illegal. Modifying the quarter seam can be particularly difficult to detect or prove.

However, there have been a number of high-profile instances of ball tampering, particularly in international cricket

International structure of cricket

There was no formal structure of international cricket until the early twenty first century. It had long been traditional for countries, without any intervention from a body such as the International Cricket Council , to organize for themselves the various cricket matches...

 due to the increase in television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 coverage. The Pakistani cricket team

Pakistani cricket team

The Pakistan cricket team is the national cricket team of Pakistan. Pakistan, represented by the Pakistan Cricket Board , is a full member of the International Cricket Council, and thus participates in , and cricket matches....

 were arguably the first to come under scrutiny, when they were together in 1992 accused of ball-tampering to achieve large amounts of reverse swing. However, no evidence of wrongdoing was ever found in that series. Because of these allegations, in 1996, Imran Khan

Imran Khan

Imran Khan Niazi is a Pakistani politician and former Pakistani cricketer, playing international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century. After retiring, he entered politics...

 sued Ian Botham

Ian Botham

Sir Ian Terence Botham OBE is a former England Test cricketer and Test team captain, and current cricket commentator. He was a genuine all-rounder with 14 centuries and 383 wickets in Test cricket, and remains well-known by his nickname "Beefy"...

 for slander and libel in a British court, and was awarded £

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

400,000.

Then England captain Michael Atherton was accused of ball tampering during the a Test match with South Africa at Lord's

Lord's Cricket Ground

Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...

 in 1994 after television cameras caught Atherton reaching into his pocket and then rubbing a substance on the ball. Atherton denied ball tampering, claiming that he had dirt in his pocket which he used to dry his hands. Atherton was summoned to the match referee and was fined £2,000 for failing to disclose the dirt to the match referee.

Waqar Younis

Waqar Younis

Waqar Younis Maitla is a former Pakistani right arm fast bowler in cricket and widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time...

 became the first player to receive a suspension

Suspension (punishment)

Suspension is a form of punishment that people receive for violating rules and regulations.- Workplace :Suspension is a common practice in the workplace for being in violation of an organization's policy...

 for ball-tampering after a match in 2000.

In January 2004, India's Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid

Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...

 was fined after he rubbed a half-eaten lolly onto one side of the ball during an ODI. Such instances of using sweetened saliva are not uncommon, as many players claim that the sugary saliva caused by eating confectionery is more effective in polishing the ball than normal saliva. Marcus Trescothick

Marcus Trescothick

Marcus Edward Trescothick MBE is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club, and represented England in 76 Test matches and 123 One Day Internationals. A left-handed opening batsman, he made his first-class debut for Somerset in 1993 and quickly established...

 claimed in his autobiography that England's players achieved their prodigious amounts of reverse swing in their successful 2005 Ashes series

2005 Ashes series

The 2005 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 21 July 2005, England and Australia played five Tests, with the Ashes held by Australia as the most recent victors...

 against Australia by using saliva sweetened by eating mints.

Similarly, some believe that greasy hair products and sunscreen, can mix with perspiration and the resulting oily liquid is more effective in polishing the ball.

Sachin Tendulkar in 2001

In the second Test match of India's 2001 tour of South Africa, at St George's Park

Sahara Oval St George's

St George’s Park Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is the home of the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club, one of the oldest cricket clubs in South Africa, and the Eastern Province Club...

, Port Elizabeth, match referee Mike Denness

Mike Denness

Mike Denness is a former Scottish cricketer who played for England, Scotland, Essex and Kent. Scotland did not have a representative international team at the time of Denness' career, so he could only play for England at Test and ODI level. Denness became the first Scotsman to captain England...

 suspended Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...

 for one game in light of alleged ball tampering. Television cameras picked up images that suggested Tendulkar was involved in scuffing the seam of the cricket ball.
The incident escalated to include allegations of racism, and led to Mike Denness being barred from entering the venue of the third test match. The ICC revoked the status of the match as a Test as the teams rejected the appointed referee. The charges against Tendulkar and Sehwag's ban for excessive appealing triggered a massive backlash from the Indian public.

Pakistan in August 2006

In 2006, an alleged ball-tampering issue overshadowed a Test match between Pakistan and England, whereby Pakistan refused to take to the field for the evening session after being penalised for ball-tampering in the afternoon. Television cameras caught the umpires discussing the condition of the quarter seam

Quarter seam

The Quarter seam is the tiny seam which runs around a cricket ball at 90 degrees to the large, raised seam.While the main seam can be 'picked at' - loosening the threads - in order to create conventional swing when the ball is relatively new, more recently, an understanding has evolved that the...

. Pakistan are believed to have intended a protest against the decision by delaying their return after tea, however while they were refusing to play, the umpires awarded the game to England in accordance with the laws of cricket.

The controversy arose when the umpires, Darrell Hair

Darrell Hair

Darrell Bruce Hair is an Australian former Test match cricket umpire, from New South Wales. He stood on the Emirates International panel of umpires from 2002 to 2003, before he, along with fellow Australian Simon Taufel, and New Zealander Billy Bowden, was appointed to the ICC Elite umpire panel...

 and Billy Doctrove

Billy Doctrove

Billy Raymond Doctrove is a former international football referee, but is best known as an international cricket umpire.- Career as a FIFA referee :...

, ruled that the Pakistani team had been involved in ball tampering. They awarded five penalty runs to England and a replacement ball was selected by England batsman Paul Collingwood

Paul Collingwood

Paul David Collingwood MBE is an English cricketer. He has been a regular member of the England Test side, was captain of the One Day International team 2007–2008. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is a batting all-rounder, whose batting...

. Play continued until the tea break, without any Pakistani protest. After the tea break, the Pakistani team, after having mutually confirmed that no ball tampering had taken place and given consideration to the severity of the implication, refused to take the field. The umpires then left the field, gave a warning to the Pakistani players, and returned once more 15 minutes later. After waiting two more minutes the umpires removed the bails and declared England winners by forfeiture. A deal was brokered between the English

England and Wales Cricket Board

The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council...

 and Pakistani

Pakistan Cricket Board

The Pakistan Cricket Board is a sporting organization that is responsible for governing all professional cricket including Test cricket and One Day International matches played in Pakistan...

 cricket boards to allow the match to continue, and the Pakistani team did take to the field 55 minutes after the umpires first took to the field for the resumption of play. Umpires Hair and Doctrove, however, declined to continue the game maintaining their decision that Pakistan had forfeited the match by refusing to play.

The impasse continued late into the evening. Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq claimed that Darrell Hair

Darrell Hair

Darrell Bruce Hair is an Australian former Test match cricket umpire, from New South Wales. He stood on the Emirates International panel of umpires from 2002 to 2003, before he, along with fellow Australian Simon Taufel, and New Zealander Billy Bowden, was appointed to the ICC Elite umpire panel...

 did not inform him or the rest of his side of the reasons why the ball was replaced, and that Hair had implied that Pakistan were cheating. The events led Cricinfo

Cricinfo

ESPNcricinfo is believed to be the largest cricket-related website on the World Wide Web. Content includes news,articles, live scorecards,live text commentary and a comprehensive and searchable database called 'StatsGuru', of historical matches and players from the 18th century to the present...

 journalists to describe it as "a farcical afternoon and evening" up to the point at 19:50 UTC when it was finally announced in a press conference that the Test was called off. The ECB's statement said that England were awarded the match by the umpires as Pakistan refused to take the field after being warned that under law 21.3, failure to do so would result in them forfeiting the game. This is the first time a Test match

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 has been decided this way.

The England and Wales Cricket Board refunded fourth-day spectators 40% of their ticket price (after deduction of an administration fee), and gave an automatic 100% refund to those with tickets for the fifth day. It later asked the Pakistan Cricket Board to pick up the GBP800,000 costs of doing this, which the PCB refused to do. In March 2007, the PCB and ECB reached a settlement where Pakistan would play a Twenty20 International in England and waive their fees.

As a result of Pakistan's forfeiting of the game captain Inzamam was charged and found guilty of "bringing the game into disrepute", though he was cleared of the charges relating to "changing the condition of the ball". In January 2008, Pakistan's cricket board asked the International Cricket Council to change the official result to "match abandoned" or "match drawn" on the basis of having been subsequently cleared of ball-tampering by an ICC tribunal. In July 2008, the International Cricket Council (ICC) changed the result of the match to a draw, though in October 2008 the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) released the statement "The ICC has no power under the laws of cricket to decide that results should be altered, whether it feels it's ‘inappropriate’ or otherwise,"
The decision also angered former players including Michael Holding

Michael Holding

Michael Anthony Holding is a former West Indian cricketer. One of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket, he was nicknamed 'Whispering Death' by umpires due to his quiet approach to the bowling crease...

 who at the time was a member of the ICC cricket committee. Holding felt that Pakistan's refusal to play should not go unpunished even though they were not guilty of ball-tampering,

"I have just written my letter of resignation to the ICC cricket committee because I cannot agree with what they've done," Holding said while commentating for Sky Sports during a domestic match in England. "That game should never, ever be a draw. When you take certain actions, you must be quite happy to suffer the consequences."

On 1 February 2009, the ICC reversed their earlier decision, and changed the match result back to a win for England.

Anderson and Broad 2010 incident

In January 2010, England bowlers Stuart Broad

Stuart Broad

Stuart Christopher John Broad is a cricketer who plays Test and One Day International cricket for England and is currently the captain of their Twenty20 team...

 and James Anderson

James Anderson (cricketer)

James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Lancashire County Cricket Club and since bursting onto the scene in 2002/03, before his first full season of county cricket, Anderson has represented England in over 50 Test matches and over 100 One Day...

 were accused of ball tampering by rubbing the ball on the ground with their spikes in the third Test Match

English cricket team in South Africa in 2009–10

-2nd T20I:-1st ODI:-2nd ODI:-3rd ODI:-4th ODI:-5th ODI:-1st Test:-2nd Test:-3rd Test:-4th Test:-50-over tour match: England XI v Diamond Eagles:-50-over tour match: England XI v Chevrolet Warriors :...

 against South Africa.
Broad maintained that was just being lazy, because it was 40 Celsius in Cape Town that day.
Andrew Flower said in his defense that 'the scoreline suggested that there was obviously no ball tampering.'
Nasser Hussain

Nasser Hussain

Nasser Hussain OBE is a former Essex and England cricketer.Beginning his career in a strong Essex side in the late 1980s, he was an outstanding fielder and a stylish but inconsistent batsman. In first-class cricket from 1987 to 2004 Hussain scored 20,698 runs in 334 matches at an average of 42.06,...

 who had captained Anderson said: "Stuart Broad and James Anderson were wrong to behave in the manner they did and I've no doubt that if a player from another country did the same we'd have said they were cheating."
No charges were formally placed by South Africa even though they made the accusations at a press conference.

Shahid Afridi ball tampering incident, 2010

Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi

Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi , popularly known as Shahid Afridi , is a Pakistani cricketer. Between 1996 and 2011, Afridi played 27 Tests, 325 One Day Internationals, and 43 Twenty20 Internationals for the Pakistani national team...

, standing in as the Pakistani Captain, received a two T20 international match ban for ball-tampering in a match against Australia in January 2010

Pakistani cricket team in Australia in 2009–10

The Pakistan cricket team toured Australia for a 3-match Test series, a 5-match ODI series, and 1 Twenty20 International from 19 December 2009 to 5 February 2010....

. He was caught on camera biting the cricket ball in a bizarre attempt to readjust the seam of the ball. The ball was eventually replaced. He reportedly claimed in an ABC Radio interview that he was trying to smell the ball but he pleaded guilty for ball tampering.

Baseball analogy

The rules of Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

, specifically rule 8.02 regarding pitching, prevent the pitcher

Pitcher

In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...

 from applying a foreign object (including expectorate

Spitting

Spitting or expectoration is the act of forcibly ejecting saliva or other substances from the mouth. It is currently considered rude and a social taboo in many parts of the world including the West, while in some other parts of the world it is considered more acceptable...

) to the baseball, or a glove or hand which holds the ball; neither may the pitcher rub the ball against his uniform. An illegal pitch delivered using a ball doctored in this fashion is known as a spitball

Spitball

A spitball is an illegal baseball pitch in which the ball has been altered by the application of saliva, petroleum jelly, or some other foreign substance....

(sometimes shineball or emeryball), and the penalty for such is immediate ejection

Ejection (sports)

In sports, an ejection is one of several disqualifying actions assessed to a player or coach by a game official , usually for unsportsmanlike conduct....

 from the game and a ten-game suspension.

There are special dispensations for the pitcher in inclement weather conditions. With agreement from both managers and officials, a pitcher may be permitted to blow on his hands in low temperatures, or use rosin

Rosin

.Rosin, also called colophony or Greek pitch , is a solid form of resin obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly conifers, produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile liquid terpene components. It is semi-transparent and varies in color from yellow to black...

 to dry his hands in moist conditions.

A row over ball-tampering erupted during Game 2 of the 2006 World Series

2006 World Series

The 2006 World Series, the 102nd edition of Major League Baseball's championship series, began on October 21 and ended on October 27, and matched the American League champion Detroit Tigers against the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals won the Series in five games, taking...

 when television pictures showed Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...

 pitcher Kenny Rogers

Kenny Rogers (baseball player)

Kenneth Scott Rogers is a former American Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. During a 20-year baseball career, he pitched from 1989-2008 for six different teams. In addition to being known for his fielding , he pitched the fourteenth perfect game in major league baseball history...

 to have a foreign substance on his pitching hand. Rogers maintained the substance was merely dirt from the mound, and complied with a request from the umpires

Umpire (baseball)

In baseball, the umpire is the person charged with officiating the game, including beginning and ending the game, enforcing the rules of the game and the grounds, making judgment calls on plays, and handling the disciplinary actions. The term is often shortened to the colloquial form ump...

 to wash his hands at the end of his second inning. No further action was taken, but the issue was raised extensively in the media, who referred to the controversy by a number of nicknames including "dirtgate" and "smudgegate".