England cleared after ball treatment queried

Imputations that England’s bowlers altered the condition of the ball in a bid to try and extract reverse swing were stridently rejected this evening by their coach Trevor Bayliss and summarily dismissed as a “beat-up” by officiating umpires and ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle.

The ‘incident that never was’ grew out of observations made by commentators at the MCG during the fourth day of the fourth Magellan Ashes Test, and other ‘experts’ who interpreted footage of England’s James Anderson pushing his left thumb into the ball’s surface as an item of potential interest.

While nobody declared outright that England were engaging in a sharp practice, wisely couching their observations in terms such as “there might be a bit of please explain” or “a (finger) nail on the leather … is a no-no”, the inference began to ferment as the day progressed.

The suggestion then gained traction through social media channels and was in danger of escalating into a scandal on a rain-shortened day in which on-field action was as rare as sunny breaks until Bayliss spoke to media tonight to reveal it as nothing more than ‘fake news’.

Bayliss was in the England dressing room when he saw the item lead a news break on host broadcaster Channel Nine, at which point he “raced” into the umpires’ room at the MCG to ask match officials Kumar Dharmasena and S Ravi if there was any veracity to the claim.

“I think they must have already seen it, because Kumar (Dharmasena) said to me straight away ‘look, don’t worry about it (there’s) absolutely nothing in it’,” Bayliss said after play, with Australia 2-103 and still 61 runs in arrears of England’s first innings total with a day to play.

“And his words were ‘it’s a beat-up, nothing to worry about’.”

Bayliss’s recount of his conversation with the umpires was echoed by Madugalle who, via a Cricket Australia spokesperson, claimed there was no substance to any suggestion of ball tampering by England’s bowlers or fielders.

Later, when speaking with the UK host broadcaster BT Sports, Bayliss added: "It's a bit of Pommie-bashing, we're used to it, we knew coming here it'd be 24 million versus 11.”

He also explained that the vision, and still photographs lifted from it that showed Anderson pushing at the ball’s surface, were permissible attempts to clean the ball of dirt and mud from the MCG outfield that had collected in the seam and quarter seams.

Dharmasena had then informed England that if such routine maintenance was to be performed upon the ball it was a requirement that it be carried out in view of the umpires to ensure that no illegal practices were employed.

Bayliss also noted that if, as the speculation had erroneously suggested, Anderson (England’s greatest-ever Test wicket taker) was trying to scuff one side of the newish ball in the hope it would generate reverse swing then he was altering the altogether wrong area.

“Watching the footage, and I did see the footage there, if he was trying to scratch it he was scratching the wrong side for it to go reverse,” Bayliss said of the vision that showed Anderson’s thumb on the ball’s shiny side rather than the one that needs to be scuffed to generate swing.

“So I’m quite sure that wasn’t the case.”

However, both Bayliss and Madugalle (a former Sri Lanka Test captain) confirmed that rival captains Steve Smith and Joe Root had been spoken to by the on-field umpires about the persistent (and outlawed) habit of fielders throwing the ball needlessly on to the hard centre-wicket surface.

A move that is known to be a brazen effort to damage one side of the ball if it’s not exhibiting the properties of conventional swing, and hasten the wear and tear in order to have it start swinging reverse.

The fact that Australia and England players would repeatedly bounce their outfield returns into wicketkeepers or bowlers or shy at the stumps was seized upon by Dharmasena and Ravi, and was cited as an obvious ploy given the lack of movement in the air or off the surface on the moribund MCG pitch.

While the practice of deliberately scuffing the ball is frowned upon under the game’s laws, it is a difficult one for on-field officials to police as intent is tough to prove in any court of jurisdiction.

A current Test player involved in this Test once responded to an umpire who queried his repeated insistence on bouncing throws in from the outfield by saying “it’s a long-term injury, are you going to pay for my shoulder reconstruction if I hurt it again?”.

“Every team in the world does it so it’s a bit hard to stamp out,” Bayliss said tonight in acknowledging it was a standard measure to try and alter the state of the ball in the hope that it might deliver some advantage to the bowling team.

Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh also admitted that utilising abrasive surfaces on the field was a means by which teams tried to gain reverse swing, but added that it was policed closely by umpires such was its frequency.

“From a batsman’s perspective it gets the ball soft, so I don’t mind it,” Marsh added.

“Every team has their way of going about it.”

But he also noted that on a pitch such as the MCG, which hosted three consecutive draws in the JLT Sheffield Shield prior to this Test match, reverse swing with an older remains one of the few weapons a fielding side can employ to try and chisel out batters on the slow, flat surface.

“Victoria (winners of the past three Shield titles) have shown over a long period of time that if you can get the ball shifting throughout the game, it’s vital to taking wickets,” Marsh said.

“And once the ball is reversing it’s hard to start as a new batsman.

“So I think it’s a really important tactic here.”

2017-18 International Fixtures

Magellan Ashes Series

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird.

England Test squad: Joe Root (c), James Anderson (vc), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Mason Crane, Tom Curran, Ben Foakes, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ben Stokes, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Chris Woakes.

First Test Australia won by 10 wickets. Scorecard

Second Test Australia won by 120 runs (Day-Night). Scorecard

Third Test Australia won by an innings and 41 runs. Scorecard

Fourth Test MCG, December 26-30. Tickets

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Tickets

Gillette ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Tickets

Fifth ODI Perth Stadium, January 28. Tickets

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Tickets

Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 14

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21

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