England pacer Mark Wood caught red-handed for ball-tampering at Lord’s Test
The potential ball-tampering video has gone viral on Internet.
In cricketing terms, ball-tampering is nothing but altering the condition of the ball. This action is considered ‘illegal’ in the game. Time and again, the cricket fraternity has witnessed many players who were caught red-handed for ball-tampering.
The main purpose of ball-tampering is to impede the aerodynamics of the ball in a bid to help swing bowling. By doing so, the bowlers would have an upper hand to outsmart the batsmen. The ball-tampering is carried out by a fielder as he applies a substance to initiate the process.
He used either saliva or lip balm in order to shine on one side of the ball. Else, he would choose the seam of the ball to encourage more swing. On the other hand, roughening one side of the ball by use of a cutting surface is also ball-tampering. Examples include boot spikes, bottle caps, sandpaper.
Camera caught Mark Wood tampering the ball at Lord’s
The Lord’s Test between England and India witnessed a controversial incident that took everyone by surprise. The incident took place during Day 4 of the ongoing Test involving three English players. They are none other than Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood and another player.
Meanwhile, a video doing the rounds on the internet shows England players trying to change the condition of the ball. They were caught red-handed on camera for changing the condition of the ball with their spike.
The incident happened during the 35th over of Team India’s second innings. It was when the lanky fast bowler Robinson passed the red leather to his teammate Mark Wood in between his over. Mark Wood could have easily picked up the ball in his hand.
However, he had other ideas in mind. He pushed the ball his shoes and some other English player was also seen pressing the spike against it. The video spread like wildfire on social media. Meanwhile, cricket expert Aakash Chopra took to his official Twitter handle and wrote: “Ball-tampering, eh? #EngvInd.”
On the contrary, veteran England pacer Stuart Broad defended his fellow pacer Wood on Twitter. “My comments are- Woody tried to nutmeg Burnsy by tapping the ball through his legs (a very common occurrence) & he missed and kicked the ball there by accident. Instead of screenshotting the pic, watch the video – quite plain & easy to see.”
