The English cricket team is caught scratching ball by none other than both the umpires.
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| Image courtesy Yahoo.com |
During the recent champions trophy one-day international cricket match between England and Sri Lanka at The Oval on Thursday both the umpires noticed something strange. One of the English players was tampering with the cricket ball.
The umpires were Pakistani Aleem Dar and his New Zealand colleague Billy Bowden. As a result of this new observation they ordered to change the ball in use.
Now the English team is in the centre of a new controversy after former captain Bob Willis accused them of scratching the ball. The English team denies the ball tampering claims by former teammate and Captain Bob Willis.
As per the current one-day international rules, two white balls are to be used for each innings. This provision is made to cope up with the forceful heats by one-day batsman which is generally softens and deforms the ball.
During the match on Thursday, Kumara Sangakkara of Sri Lanka complained about the condition of the ball at a score of 119 for two. It was somewhere at the halfway stage of the batting innings.
England at an imposing score of 293 for seven. In the halfway mark, when the ball started to gain reverse swing Kumara Sangakkara asked for a change of ball. This made the English team unhappy.
After the ball was changed there was little swing and Kumara Sangakkara went on to complete his maiden century.
Cook, after the completion of the match, claimed that the ball at chests because it was out of shape. If the umpires made a decision we have to accept it.
However, he didn't mention anything about thereason for the change of the ball.
Funny, isn't it?
