Mickey Arthur claims ball-tampering was prevalent even before Sandpaper Gate
Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur has claimed ball-tampering was rampant since well before the 2018 Sandpaper Gate saga. The former South Africa and Australia coach feels it will be 'naive' to think that players didn't subtly use sweeteners and gums to maintain the ball before.
Ball-tampering has barged itself into the headlines once again after Cameron Bancroft's widely-reported revelations regarding those who were privy to the sandpaper plot in the infamous Cape Town Test. However, it wasn't the first time that a player was caught with an extraneous substance on the ground.
Mickey Arthur asserted that players have used tricks to sweeten their saliva, apparently to get a better shine on the ball. He also explained that such incidents have ceased since the Cape Town Test because of increased scrutiny by the umpires.
“You’d be naive to say otherwise. You’d be naive to think teams hadn’t tried some sweets to sweeten up your saliva to give the ball a buff - teams were doing that. [Now] I think everybody’s just a little bit on edge. I do think people are too scared to try anything. The ball is being checked numerous times in any game. Every couple of overs the ball goes to the umpire and he has a look at it," Mickey Arthur told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Hair gel, sweets, mint, lip bam, bottle caps and cough lozenge are some of the many things used in the past to maintain the shine-rough balance on the ball. And those accused are not short of esteemed names - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, James Anderson and Waqar Younis - to name a few.
"I would like to see a reverse swing back in the game without a doubt" - Mickey Arthur
The main reason Bancroft carried yellow sandpaper to Newlands was to scuff-in some reverse swing for Mitchell Starc and co. The art, once used to break unbreakable partnerships and rattle tailenders in a jiffy, now seems long lost.
Mickey Arthur, too, feels that there's "no better sight" than seeing balls reverse swinging at pace. He believes it is internal to cricket that reverse swing is restored legally at the earliest.
"I would like to see a reverse swing back in the game without a doubt. I think reverse swing is an incredible art. When a bowler gets it to go it’s an incredibly good skill. Obviously, we’re talking about getting the ball to go legally. It’s amazing to watch. There’s no better sight than when a fast bowler is running in and getting the ball to reverse at good pace,” Mickey Arthur added.
Mickey Arthur-coached Sri Lanka will next face Bangladesh in a three-match ODI series away from home between 23rd and 28th May.