'Scratching Ball Not A Bad Idea On Flat Wickets': Allan Border Urges CA To Lift David Warner's Captaincy Ban

Allan Border, in what might seem to be a controversial statement for some, have accused other teams of doing the ball-tampering and said that the players have already served their punishments.

Allan Border has urged Cricket Australia (CA) to uplift the captaincy ban on David Warner.

Source : AFP

New Delhi: Australian star batter David Warner has been playing some of the best cricket of his career. The senior opener's scintillating form has led fans and experts in Australia to unanimously urge Cricket Australia (CA) to uplift the captaincy ban on David Warner. Now, ex-Aussie skipper Allan Border is the latest to raise his voice for lifting the lifetime captaincy ban on Warner. Earlier, Australia's Test captain Pat Cummins had also urged Cricket Australia to contemplate their verdict.

Allan Border, in what might seem to be a controversial statement for some, have accused other teams of doing the ball-tampering and said that the players have already served their punishments.

“It was a harsh penalty in the first place… let’s get on with it; they’ve served their time. I know that every other side’s doing exactly what we were caught doing. (If) all the captains put their hands on their hearts and say, ‘I wasn’t doing anything similar, they’d be telling ‘porky pies’ (lies). The bans those boys copped were a bit over the top for the crime, given the knowledge around the cricket fraternity where this has been going on,” Border told The West Australian on Monday.

The veteran said that natural ball-tampering should be permitted in cricket to level the playing field on batting-friendly decks.

“If you get the ball in your hand… just scratching the ball and working on it over a period of time, and you get the ball reverse swinging… what’s wrong with that? It’s not a bad idea because, on flat wickets, you need something. Otherwise, the scores are just going to blow out, and that’s what happens now when we start preparing result wickets because it’s very hard to get good players out on very flat tracks,” Border added.