Scott 5Ball Tampering and Crowd Invasions
February 3rd 2010 12:34
Sunday night was an extraordinary night at the WACA Ground in Perth. It was the 5th ODI (one-day internationl, 50 over cricket) between Australia and Pakistan.
Australia went into this game leading 4-0 and were looking to complete the clean-sweep, while Pakistan were playing for pride.
Now I didn't watch quite a lot of the cricket which leaves me a little unqualified to comment but I can comment on this
Pakistan found themselves deep in trouble at 3/16 before Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam launched a recovery that left Pakistan bowled out for a much more respectable 213.
Australia were cruising along at 3/122 before suddenly losing 3/28 and collapsing to 6/150 needing virtually a run a ball from that point onward to win.
Johnson went and things were starting to get really tight but then two of the strangest incidents occured.
The first one, saw TV cameras pick up Pakistan Captain Shahid Afridi biting (that's right, biting) the ball. It was the most bizarre act of cheating I've ever come across and it was deadset blatant.
As for the second incident, a fan somehow evaded security and managed to tackle a Pakistani cricketer to the ground. What possessed him to do this, I don't know, but I do know that he was carried out of the ground and punished accordingly.
After this Australia worked their way to a win with 4 balls remaining with a no-ball deciding the match however the win was soured by these 2 incidents.
As a cricket fan, I could not believe the blatant ball tampering. It was disgusting and it was deadset cheating. They say cricketers pick the seam and try to generate reverse swing, using any slight advantage they can, but biting a ball. That's taking it to a whole new low. Sadly Pakistan have a history of this. Who could ever forget the forfeit after they were accused of ball-tampering?
What made it even worse was the comments about it. Shahid Afridi was honest and admitted it was a stupid thing to do and added that "he just wanted the team to win a game" while the team manager couldn't defend it and suggested that Afridi "must have thought it was an apple or something."
Afridi was subsequently suspended for 2 20/20 Internationals. This doesn't send a strong enough message. If it was subtle but caught out, 1-2 matches would've been fair enough but to bite a ball!!!!! I'm sorry, I would expect nothing less than 4 matches for that and it is a disgrace that he didn't get that. Officials had a chance to send a message that this sort of behaviour wasn't on but they hid behind processes and gave the softest punishment possible. It's an absolute sham, I'm sorry to say.
In terms of crowd invasions, I thought it was an absolute disgrace. I am of the firm view that the person was drunk but that does not excuse the failings of security here. How can someone get all the way to a player and tackle them to the ground? This is simply not good enough but at the same time, the guy is an absolute halfwit. Sadly Australia tends to be a little less tough than it should be when it comes to pitch invasions. Seriously, charge them for public nuisance and hit them with the book (i.e. massive fine and life ban). It's not that bloody hard. We do that and it sends the message that we take this sort of stuff very seriously As it is we now face a fine from the ICC for security failings and that's nothing less than we deserve.
What a shame that such a close, competitive match (Australia winning by 2 wickets) was ruined by 2 of the strangest incidents of all time.
Australia went into this game leading 4-0 and were looking to complete the clean-sweep, while Pakistan were playing for pride.
Now I didn't watch quite a lot of the cricket which leaves me a little unqualified to comment but I can comment on this
Pakistan found themselves deep in trouble at 3/16 before Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam launched a recovery that left Pakistan bowled out for a much more respectable 213.
Australia were cruising along at 3/122 before suddenly losing 3/28 and collapsing to 6/150 needing virtually a run a ball from that point onward to win.
Johnson went and things were starting to get really tight but then two of the strangest incidents occured.
The first one, saw TV cameras pick up Pakistan Captain Shahid Afridi biting (that's right, biting) the ball. It was the most bizarre act of cheating I've ever come across and it was deadset blatant.
As for the second incident, a fan somehow evaded security and managed to tackle a Pakistani cricketer to the ground. What possessed him to do this, I don't know, but I do know that he was carried out of the ground and punished accordingly.
After this Australia worked their way to a win with 4 balls remaining with a no-ball deciding the match however the win was soured by these 2 incidents.
As a cricket fan, I could not believe the blatant ball tampering. It was disgusting and it was deadset cheating. They say cricketers pick the seam and try to generate reverse swing, using any slight advantage they can, but biting a ball. That's taking it to a whole new low. Sadly Pakistan have a history of this. Who could ever forget the forfeit after they were accused of ball-tampering?
What made it even worse was the comments about it. Shahid Afridi was honest and admitted it was a stupid thing to do and added that "he just wanted the team to win a game" while the team manager couldn't defend it and suggested that Afridi "must have thought it was an apple or something."
Afridi was subsequently suspended for 2 20/20 Internationals. This doesn't send a strong enough message. If it was subtle but caught out, 1-2 matches would've been fair enough but to bite a ball!!!!! I'm sorry, I would expect nothing less than 4 matches for that and it is a disgrace that he didn't get that. Officials had a chance to send a message that this sort of behaviour wasn't on but they hid behind processes and gave the softest punishment possible. It's an absolute sham, I'm sorry to say.
In terms of crowd invasions, I thought it was an absolute disgrace. I am of the firm view that the person was drunk but that does not excuse the failings of security here. How can someone get all the way to a player and tackle them to the ground? This is simply not good enough but at the same time, the guy is an absolute halfwit. Sadly Australia tends to be a little less tough than it should be when it comes to pitch invasions. Seriously, charge them for public nuisance and hit them with the book (i.e. massive fine and life ban). It's not that bloody hard. We do that and it sends the message that we take this sort of stuff very seriously As it is we now face a fine from the ICC for security failings and that's nothing less than we deserve.
What a shame that such a close, competitive match (Australia winning by 2 wickets) was ruined by 2 of the strangest incidents of all time.
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