Fanie de Villiers’ tip Helped Camera Operators Spot the Ball Tampering During South Africa vs Australia 3rd Test
De Villiers was curious how Australian bowlers were able to reverse swing the ball on a wicket which had grass on it.
The ball-tampering scandal involving Australian players has shocked the cricket community. During the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town, Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera rubbing the ball with a hello tape, probably sandpaper. Along with Bancroft, Australian captain Steve Smith later in the press conference admitted that they did tamper with the ball. Interestingly, it was not the camera operators who spotted it first. Former South African fast bowler Fanie de Villiers, who is working for a broadcaster in South Africa, claims that he instructed the cameramen on day three to keep a close look on the Australians as he had suspected something unusual.
”I said earlier on, that if they could get reverse swing in the 26th, 27th, 28th over then they are doing something different from what everyone else does," the 53-year-old told RSN Radio.
"We actually said to our cameramen, 'go out [and] have a look, boys. They're using something.' They searched for an hour and a half until they saw something and then they started following Bancroft and they actually caught him out at the end,” he added.
De Villiers was curious how Australian bowlers were able to reverse swing the ball on a wicket which had grass on it. "It's impossible for the ball to get altered like that on cricket wickets where we knew there was grass on, not a Pakistani wicket where there's cracks every centimetre," said de Villiers.
"We're talking about a grass-covered wicket where you have to do something else to alter the shape, to alter the roughness of the ball on the one side. You have to get the one side wetter, heavier than the other side,” he added.
Smith was handed a one-match ban and fined 100 per cent of his match fee following the ball-tampering incident. Bancroft was fined only 75 per cent of his match fee. As per latest reports, Smith and Warner may be banned for life by Cricket Australia (CA).
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 27, 2018 02:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).