Trevor Bayliss slams Aussie greats, defends Jimmy Anderson in ball-tampering row
RUSSELL GOULD, Herald Sun
December 29, 2017 6:20pm
ENGLAND coach Trevor Bayliss launched a broadside at a bunch of former Australian Test greats after
TV cameras caught seamer Jimmy Anderson taking his thumb to the ball on a day of drama at the MCG.
The umpires were forced to intervene in the opening session after the English players continually threw the ball in to the pitch from the outfield in a bid to rough it up and reverse swing their way to victory.
Umpires Sundaram Ravi and Kumar Dharmasena spoke to England skipper Joe Root after a throw from Stuart Broad bounced short of wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow proved one time too many, and there was another conversation during the drinks break.
Anderson was also filmed by TV cameras using his thumbnail on the ball in a way which Aussie legend Shane Warne said was a “no, no”.
“You don’t want to see nails going through the ball,” Warne said during the broadcast.
“It’s just one of those things, they’ve got it to go reverse pretty quickly out there and when they do it’s difficult to play.”
Former test quick Mitchell Johnson also weighed in on Twitter, surprised the tourists were getting the ball reverse swinging inside the opening 10 overs of the Aussies second innings, after which Cameron Bancroft and Usman Khawaja were both dismissed.
Former Aussie batsmen Mike Hussey also said the images of Anderson using his thumb were “not a good look”.
“I know there’s a lot of tactics, but there’s a bit of a line there that you shouldn’t cross in picking the seam of the ball and things like that,” Hussey told cricket.com.au.
Match officials confirmed, after rain ended play early, that both teams had been warned by the umpires for trying to scuff up the ball while fielding.
But they made no issue of Anderson’s work.
Bayliss, who went straight to the umpires after the game when he saw allegations aired on TV, declared his veteran quick was simply “cleaning” the ball and gave the commentators a clip for good measure.
“I didn’t hear what they said. They were players once too. That’s all I’ll say,” Bayliss said.
“You are allowed to clean the ball. And Kumar (umpire Kumar Dharmasena) did say to our guys, he’d like to see them doing it in front of him, so he could see there was nothing untoward going on.
“There was a bit of dirt and mud on the outfield and it does get on the ball, and in some of the seams, and you are allowed to clean it off.
“Watching the footage (of Anderson) and I did see it, if he was scratching it he was scratching the wrong side to go reverse. I’m quite sure that wasn’t the case.”
Bayliss said “every team in world cricket” used the tactic of throwing the ball in to the pitch, and its surrounding areas, to try and rough it up and get the ball reverse-swinging on lifeless wickets like the MCG.
“The umpires spoke to both captains during this game about throwing the ball in to the rough areas,” Bayliss said.
“The umpires don’t want it to go overboard and both teams have taken that on board.”
Aussie all-rounder Mitch Marsh said he had seen nothing “inappropriate” from either team through the first four days of the match.
Anderson is the man in charge of ball maintenance for England, a role once held by former international Ravi Bopara who was twice accused of altering the ball.
Once, while playing domestic cricket in New Zealand in 2009, an opposing coach said he saw Bopara scratching the ball.
A similar allegation was levelled at Bopara during the 2013 Champions Trophy one-day tournament by former England captain Bob Willis.
But no action was taken in either incident.
After England’s victory in the 2005 Ashes in England, former opener Marcus Trescothick revealed that he purposely sucked a certain type of breath mint to help keep the ball shine, and swing, for longer.
“It had been common knowledge in county cricket for some time that certain sweets produced saliva which, when applied to the ball for cleaning purposes, enabled it to keep its shine for longer and therefore its swing,” Trescothick wrote in his autobiography.
And last summer South African captain Faf Du Plessis was found guilty of ball tampering by the International Cricket Council for using mints to alter the condition of the ball in a match against Australia in Hobart, and was fined 100 per cent of his match fee.
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