Sandpaper took it to 'next level': AB de Villiers admits all teams tried to produce reverse swing but 'within the rules'

Sandpaper took it to 'next level': AB de Villiers admits all teams tried to produce reverse swing but 'within the rules' originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Faf du Plessis was fined his full match fee for applying mint-infused saliva to the ball in 2016.

AB de Villiers says no team is entirely innocent when it comes to ball-tampering

With Usman Khawaja's autobiography Sabr reopening the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, the view from the opposition Australia were playing that week has carried particular interest.

AB de Villiers has defended the pursuit of reverse swing while drawing a clear line at what happened in Cape Town.

"I've personally always loved reverse swing. It speeds up the game. It tests the batter's skill. It brings a little bit of something back into the bowler's hands when the ball is getting really old and the wicket is flattening out," de Villiers said on his YouTube channel ABD360.

His argument is that the practice is universal and the boundary is the only thing in dispute.

"Every single team for many, many years around the world has always tried to get the ball to reverse or to do something. But obviously, there's a fine line between what you're allowed to do and what you're not."

He continued, "South Africa has been in trouble in the past, going back to the '90s, with some players doing funny stuff. Even during my days, there was the mint in the mouth putting it on."

On Australia, he was unequivocal about where the 2018 plan sat.

"Obviously, taking sandpaper onto the cricket ground was taking it to the next level, and the way they did it."

De Villiers: South Africa did not single out Faf du Plessis over Mintgate

De Villiers' reference to the mint is to a specific case, and it is the one he believes Australia should have looked at.

"During my playing days, with the whole sweetie thing, it was us taking it together as a team. There were no individuals singled out. There was maybe a fine handed out by the ICC to that individual, and we took it as a team when we moved on."

The incident occurred in November 2016 in Hobart, where television footage showed du Plessis applying saliva to the ball with a mint in his mouth during the second Test.

He pleaded not guilty, was found guilty by match referee Andy Pycroft, and was fined his entire match fee with three demerit points.

It was his second such sanction, after a 50 per cent fine for rubbing the ball on his trouser zipper against Pakistan in 2013. De Villiers finished on the point the headline rests on: that the pursuit itself is legitimate and only the method is not.

"Every team still tries to get the ball to do something when the game is getting dead. And long may that continue, as long as you stay within the rules of the game."

In the Proteas' case, the entire squad fronted a joint press conference in Faf's support, with Hashim Amla calling the allegations "ridiculous," and du Plessis kept the captaincy and appealed. Then he made a century in the next Test. Nobody was sent home. That wasn't the case with the Aussies 2 years later.

Khawaja's claims show a totally different scenario in Australia

Unlike South Africa, where the scrutiny was not confined to three individuals, Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were singled out following the Newlands Test.

For the past eight years, the three have shouldered the blame for the Cape Town scandal, and Khawaja's book is the first account from inside that tour to challenge whether they deserved to carry it alone.

Khawaja claims Australia also used sandpaper in Port Elizabeth, in the Test preceding the Newlands fixture. He also alleges that the entire touring party knew about the practice.

The bowlers, however, have not changed their position. Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon issued a joint denial in 2021 and continue to stand by it, with Starc reiterating this week that he had no knowledge of sandpaper being taken onto the field.

Reverse swing has also become a rarer sight in modern cricket, with cameras trained on the ball throughout the game and far less opportunity for teams to work on it without attracting attention.

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