According to Rameez Raja, it was Fletcher who went up to Hair a day earlier and asked him to watch the ball after it started reversing.
QUOTE]
That is indeed a bit rich. Fletcher accusing someone of ball tampering after there is a bit of reverse swing. Is he owning up to something here??
Anyway, I'll drop my post from the ashes debate thread here since it obviously isn't wanted over there:
Perhaps with all of this discussion on ball tampering we can get to the bottom of how england managed to get the ball to reverse after just 15 overs. Call me a sore loser, because I still feel mighty sore about the loss so you're right, but that was some incredible feat from the english bowlers - a feat that I can't accept can simply be attributed to clever bowling or new, legal ball scuffing techniques...if there is such a thing.
The only explanation is that england have developed a technique of roughing up one side of the ball faster than anyone else has ever accomplished....legal or illegal, perhaps chief ball "shiner" Trescothik is the only one who knows the answer.
Is it the Duke that deteriorates faster and absorbs moisture faster than say a Kooka? Is it the fact that Harmison peppered our opening batsmen with short balls with the seam purposely scrambled to scuff it up? Is it their technique of always throwing the ball in on the bounce? This is hardly ground breaking stuff...something you'd think after 100+ years of cricket would've made someone's mind light up if it did infact work. And the chances of consistently hitting the one side of the ball within 15 overs to get the ball scuffed up enough to make it swing so profoundly, so conistently and so early is quite incredible don't you think? Even if these techniques defy 100+ years of trying, why are these excuses deemed acceptable for england yet the pakis don't even get a chance to state their case?
Take this from cricinfo...
"What, too, to make of reverse swing? Righteously condemned as an illegal concoction of bottle-tops and fingernails in 1992 when Wasim and Waqar were rampant, it is now an art form to be marvelled at. In 13 years, like an ex-con it has undergone a complete and successful rehabilitation. On the back of reclaiming the Ashes, it has become legit."
So when a team manages to produce profound swing like they'd never been able to achieve before, or since, in half the time that "cheaters" were able to, suddenly it becomes legit? Pull the other one.
And now Fletcher accuses Asif of ball tampering because he managed to get it to reverse, to a far lesser degree than his own bowlers managed a year before. Yet there's no evidence from 26 cameras? Perhaps...just perhaps the players realise there are 26 cameras and new ball tampering techniques have been devised. I mean, how difficult is it to stick an abrasive surface underneath your pants? Not very. It's a simple way to ensure the roughness is spread evenly, without detection. Just a theory.
I realise i'm jumping to conclusions with little evidence, but if Asif making it reverse is enough to dock the pakis 5 runs and their reputation, I'll go out on a limb and call england hypocrits.
