County diary: Ball-tampering and drugs

BALL-TAMPERING Law 42.3 It is unfair for anyone to rub the ball on the ground for any reason, interfere with any of the seams or the surface of the ball, use any implement, or take any other action whatsoever which is likely to alter the condition of the ball Surrey start ball-tampering probe Glamorgan in ball-tampering row

To the casual observer, the shady practise of ball-tampering is new to cricket.

A little like London buses, nothing happens and then two come along at once - as was the case in the latest round of Championship matches.

In the wake of the England and Wales Cricket Board's plan to crack down on cheating, Surrey and Gloucestershire find themselves in potentially sticky situations.

But, as former England and Lancashire all-rounder Ian Austin told BBC Sport, it is the oldest trick in the book.

"It's not anything new. It's been going on for years and years," Austin said.

"When I was coming up through the ranks at grass-roots level and league cricket, lifting of the seam always took place.

"You could be sure that the one with the biggest thumb-nail stood at mid-on or mid-off.

"I was brought up on that and it was accepted. Nobody even batted an eyelid."

I played two seasons in Australia, and sometimes they used to pump water into one side of the ball Ian Austin

Austin revealed that even though ball-tampering occurs at county level, it is probably not done every day of every match.

"Sometimes it happens naturally. If you are playing on an abrasive pitch, the ball will get roughed up anyway

"But other times the ball might need a little bit of illegal assistance.

"In the end, it really comes down to ability. You've got to be good enough to bowl with a particular ball once you've done it."

Austin still believes the ECB are right to try to stamp it out, but thinks policing could prove difficult.

"At the end of the day it is illegal and they are probabably right," he said.

"But do the ECB actually know what they are charging the teams with, and what people are trying to gain from tampering with the ball?

"It depends what form of ball-tampering has been going on.

"The question has to be: how much is actually being gained from it? Surrey didn't benefit too much - they got hammered.

"I played two seasons in Australia, and sometimes they used to pump water into one side of the ball to weight it to one side and make it easier to swing.

"That's ball-tampering, but so is wiping a ball under your armpits or on your back or putting a bit of sweat on it.

"At some stage you will have to prove that someone has intentionally tampered with a ball, and then it becomes one word against another."

PIPER THE VILLAIN OR THE VICTIM?

Keith hasn't done this to improve his standards in cricket, he has done it in his own time Ed Giddins Drugs hearing for Warwicks' Piper

Veteran Warwickshire keeper Keith Piper's career could be over after he tested positive for recreational drug marijuana.

Understandably, the ECB is determined to rid cricket of any form of drug use, saying "anyone using a prohibited substance is likely to suffer very serious penalties".

But as sport looks down on Piper as a poor role model, a former county opponent has leapt to his defence.

"Keith is going to lose a very successful career over doing something that a huge majority of the country do," Ed Giddins, himself banned for recreational drug use in 1996, told BBC Sport.

"He hasn't done this to improve his standards in cricket, he has done it in his own time."

Former Middlesex and England seamer Angus Fraser believes the actual process of taking a drugs test is "very invasive".

He told the BBC: "You feel like a criminal while you're doing it."

But Fraser has little sympathy for those who get caught.

"Surely cricket's governing body has got some right to look out for the welfare of its players. If it just said 'well, no, you can take what you want', it would be accused of being negligent."

Ian Austin interview by Scott Heinrich