The confession by former England opening batsman, MarcusTrescothick, he was in charge of keeping the ball polished during the Ashesseries that his country won in 2005 at home, has not shocked any one. He hasrevealed in his autobiography – “Coming back to me” – “It was my job to keepthe shine on the new ball as long as possible with a bit of spit and a lot ofpolish. And through trial and error I finally settled on the type of spit forthe task at hand.”
He has also admitted that he settled on Murray Mints asbeing the best suited for this “operation”. Now that his career as aninternational cricketer is over, Trescothick, who in his 30s, could help MurrayMints do further research on ball tampering in the game. Such a revelation alsowould help sell his book. He is becoming a supersalesman. And to think of it,the cricket fraternity in England got together to accuse Pakistan captain,Imran Khan and his acolytes, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, of “cheating” bydoing the same, though by a less sophisticated method.
If it is true that a thief is one only when he is caught,then cheating is second nature to mankind. And the emotional exit made by therecent captain of England, Michael Vaughan, after he relinquished the positionfollowing the Test rubber defeat by South Africa, is one more instance ofhypocrisy. When he held the urn containing the Ashes in 2005, it did not strikehim he had agreed to his team using illegal methods to gain an advantage andmake the new ball reverse swing. Of course, this is hard to believe as it givesthe lie to the theory that only the relatively old ball swings reverse. Exceptthat kids, who are learning the game, are bound to know that it helps to cheatfrom the Somerset man. So, if an umpire sees a 12-year-old surreptitiouslyputting his hand into his pocket what does he do? Haul him up or pat him on theback? He might have the equivalent of “Marcus Mints”!
The International Cricket Council (ICC) had better legalisethis sort of ball tampering, not picking the seam and altering the shape of theball. After all, it has legalised chucking, even if the experts on the panel todecide such a thing can continue fooling themselves. It is as simple as a bowlerchucks or he does not. But then at a time when there is much at stakefinancially, even the ICC knows that it is better to bend under a storm than beblown way. And talking of storms, Trescothick’s might prove to be one in ateacup!