Here's a guide for 'legal' ball tampering
The fielders with quick arm and the spinners bowling from other end play a key role in maintaining the rough side of the ball. The fielders throw the ball in one bounce to the keeper, trying to land it on the rough side. The spinners on the other hand, try to land the ball on the seam or the rough side, which also helps them extract more turn.
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View In AppSweat, the other component apart from saliva also plays a crucial role in the art of ball making. ‘Vaseline’ and ‘Lip balms’ take centre stage, replacing mints and lollies. But here again they are only catalysts, players cannot directly apply Vaseline on the ball to make it shine. (Credit: @moonshop90)
Various ‘Sun creams’ which the players apply on their faces too have been used to shine the ball. The creams used to protect the players from sun tan also mixes with their sweat and makes it slightly heavy. Now you know why the man mid-on ends up having half red trousers by the end of the day's play. (Credit: @_CheriePhi_)
Half the job is done, if the shiny side is ready. Now for the other side of the ball - the rough one, which has landed the players in trouble.(Credit: Twitter)
Finger nails, external objects have been used to scruff up the other side of the ball and if caught, like Bancroft was, they face dire consequences.
Shoe spikes have also been used on occasions to fiddle with the rough side of the ball. Shoaib Akhtar sure will have something to say about that. (Credit: Twitter)
‘Alpenliebe’, a famous candy in India has been used by the players to work on the shiny side of the ball for years. Its amazing mix of caramel, milk and butter make it the perfect ingredient to make the shiny side heavier, which helps the ball cut through wind easily. (Credit: @llPetit_Kll)
Australian opener Cameron Bancroft was the latest offender who on Saturday was caught on camera rubbing sand paper on the ball to extract swing.
But the art of ball making, which obviously Bancroft did not know much about is much more than using illegal tools such as the sand paper and sticky tapes, there is also a legal way.
The trick lies in shining the ball as South Africa captain Faf du Plessis best described by saying that shining the ball is not that serious an offence as compared to roughing up the ball. So how does one shine one side of the ball so much that the ball starts to reverse? Use ones sweat and saliva of course. The catalysts here are jelly beans, mints, cough lollies, which generate a lot of saliva inside the mouth.
Like England cricketers used 'Murray Mints' in their triumphant 2005 Ashes series. (Credit: @prnovis)
‘Jelly beans’ have been used to shine the ball. Who can forget the incident involving Zaheer Khan in India's 2007 tour of England? So aren't using jelly beans to shine the ball illegal? They are not, as long as they don't come in direct contact of the ball and players only use their saliva. The sugar content in the mints or jelly beans only help generating more saliva (Credit: @westcorkarts)
Since the time Pakistan bowlers introduced reverse swing to cricket, players have been found doing bizarre things on cricket field in desperation to extract reverse swing in unfavourable conditions.
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