This refers to the editorial, “Double standards” (March 27). Australian opener Cameron Bancroft’s tampering of the cricket ball caught on camera has dominated the media space and the mindscape of cricket fans. The ungentlemanly and unsportsman-like conduct looked starker and inexcusable in view of the traditional association of the ‘gentleman’s game’ with fair play. This was not the first time that the ball was tampered with. The present instance caused much furore as it was done by a player of the ‘leadership group’, of which skipper Steve Smith was at the core in a match played between two of the world’s best teams.
All sorts of interventions are tried to temper and tone the ball to dismiss the batsman. A bowler/fielder/skipper squeezing the ball with saliva and sweat and rubbing it with palms against the upper thighs is a familiar sight on the field. Players appear to yield to the temptation of ball-tampering when they want to win a match/series. If ‘match-fixing’ is to do with money, ball-tampering appears to be a desperate attempt made to win ‘national glory’. The rivalry between Australia and South Africa was so fierce that the Aussies forgot about the CCTV cameras, capable of capturing the act of altering the surface and seam of the ball vividly. Be it stupidity, human frailty, error judgement, ‘brain-fade’ or something else, ball-tampering at Cape Town should be unequivocally denounced as a scandal. It cannot be accepted as part of the glorious game of cricket. Without being influenced by race, nationality or any other consideration, the ICC should fit the punishment to the premeditated crime. Nevertheless, there is no need to blow the cheating episode up out of proportion when we have a thousand and one more serious things for us to be concerned about.