Australian opener Usman Khawaja has claimed that ball tampering was common in Sheffield Shield cricket, with Victoria particularly expert at producing reverse swing. The veteran batter has made the revelations in his upcoming autobiography, Sabr, which is set for public release.
Khawaja’s newest feedback observe his controversial claims concerning the 2018 Cape City ball-tampering scandal, wherein he alleged that Australian gamers and help staff knew concerning the team’s actions. He has additionally confronted criticism for ready eight years to reveal the knowledge.
‘The Victorians Were In all probability the Greatest at It’ – Usman Khawaja on Ball Tampering
In excerpts from Sabr, Usman Khawaja described Victoria’s gamers from the 2000s and 2010s as particularly expert at altering the condition of the ball. He explained that the Melbourne Cricket Ground typically supplied little help to bowlers, making reverse swing and spin crucial to profitable matches.
“The Victorians have been probably the most effective at it. The MCG was once dead and flat. Reverse swing and a little bit of spin was the only approach you might win a sport there,” Khawaja wrote.
“The Victorians of that 2000s and 2010s era have been genius at it. Throwing it into the wicket and doing different darkish arts to rough it up and make the shiny facet comparatively shinier. It was all fair sport.”
“It was no shock when, years later, Victoria’s bowling coach, Micky Lewis, was caught on cameras scraping the ball within the gutter when it obtained hit for a boundary. This sort of stuff was very normal,” Khawaja wrote.
‘One of many Players Had Tremendous Glue on His Towel’ – Usman Khawaja Reveals Weird Methodology
Usman Khawaja additionally described an unusual ball-tampering technique he witnessed during his first season in Sheffield Shield cricket. He claimed that an unnamed participant used dried super glue on a towel to rough up the ball and assist generate reverse swing.
“One of many gamers had super glue on his towel. He’d get the ball on the rough facet and scrub it against the dried-up super glue. It worked a deal with and the ball would all the time reverse,” Khawaja revealed.
“I personally by no means tampered with a ball — in terms of scratching it or something — however I knew the whole lot that was happening and I wasn’t against it which made me complicit,” Khawaja wrote.
Darren Lehmann Backs Usman Khawaja’s Claims About Ball Tampering in Cricket
Usman Khawaja’s revelations concerning the prevalence of ball tampering in home cricket echo current feedback from former Australia head coach Darren Lehmann. Talking on ABC Sport’s Summer time Grandstand, Lehmann stated the observe had been a part of cricket for generations earlier than Australia’s 2018 scandal.
“You do know ball tampering is occurring because it has been occurring for 150 years,” Lehmann stated.
“I can only converse to what I do know, and I do know ball tampering was a big a part of the sport of cricket. Now it’s out of date. That does not make it proper both, however that’s the case, and we paid a heavy value for that.”
Khawaja has been selling Sabr for the previous two weeks, but the chapter containing his ball-tampering revelations was withheld till Saturday morning. He later defended the timing of his feedback on social media, saying he did not feel he had thrown anyone “beneath the bus” with his revelations.
Source: cricketaddictor.com
