as long as they are the ones doing it!

Attached is an article from a british newspaper.

Cheats stump the umpires

By Martin Searby

(Filed: 26/04/2005)

English cricket's 26 first-class umpires were stunned to be told that the players are happy with some forms of cheating in the game but want to stamp out the more extreme examples.

The annual meeting of the umpires earlier this month was astonished to hear Mike Smith, the former Gloucestershire and England left-arm seamer, outline the various methods the players have of breaking Law 42 on unfair play by altering the condition of the ball.

Representing the Professional Cricketers' Association, at the request of Alan Fordham, the England and Wales Cricket Board's cricket operations manager, Smith, who retired last autumn, said the players' union do not mind teams using lip salve, hair gel or sucking sweets and using the sugar to provide extra shine - all contraventions - but take exception to other methods like lifting the stitching.

The Yorkshire-born Smith was an exemplary professional but the umpires were amazed to hear him say that one bowler - who he refused to name - used sticking plaster on his left ring finger to conceal a piece of emery paper which he used to rough up the ball.

A long-serving member of the first-class list, who cannot be named because of the ban on officials speaking publicly, said: "It was absolutely amazing to hear a well-respected former player asking us to stamp out the more extreme methods of cheating. If the players' union know who it is, they should put their own house in order.

''We haven't got eyes in the back of our heads and, hard as you might try, it's impossible to see everything that goes on with the ball.''

Law 42 sub section 3 paragraph says: "It is unfair for anyone to rub the ball in the ground for any reason, interfere with any of the seams or the surface of the ball, use any implement, or take any further action whatsoever which is likely to alter the condition of the ball."

Last season Mohammad Akram, of Sussex, now with Surrey, was reported to Lord's following a ball-tampering incident in the match against Warwickshire at Horsham. Over the years there have been many high-profile incidents, notably when Mike Atherton used dust in his pocket to 'dry the ball', as he explained it.

During a Lord's Test, Pakistan were thought to have used implements to scratch bits of leather off the ball and there was an international incident when John Lever was accused of using Vaseline to add lustre to the ball while on a tour of the subcontinent.

If cheating actually makes the game interesting I'm all for it.

So if all these methods are true, then surely rubbing the ball on ones trousers must be a form of cheating as well. Of course Croc, the Australians would never dream of cheating. Just rolling the ball along the ground, underarm, which of course we all know is perfectly allowable.

Mike Atherton, the Captains choice for Cheating.

So me OC, you have trawled throgh google for days to respond to Australias proudest moment and finally come up with something!

Alas it's Pretty unspectacular!

Watch out for Australias proudest moment No.2

coming soon!

It only took five minutes Mitty and I didn't have to go back 25 years.

They need to cheat to even have a hope in being competitive with us

They need to cheat to even have a hope in being competitive with us

Don't you all forget.........it was a form of cheating that got Australians to Australia in the first place.

They need to cheat to even have a hope in being competitive with us

Don't you all forget.........it was a form of cheating that got Australians to Australia in the first place.

And don't forget England produces so many crims they've had to export them.

So if all these methods are true, then surely rubbing the ball on ones trousers must be a form of cheating as well. Of course Croc, the Australians would never dream of cheating. Just rolling the ball along the ground, underarm, which of course we all know is perfectly allowable.

I always thought it was just a matter of self-gratification.

But as a former village-cricketer, would view any tampering with the ball, as unfair and contrary to the spirit of a very fine game.

They need to cheat to even have a hope in being competitive with us

Don't you all forget.........it was a form of cheating that got Australians to Australia in the first place.

Of course the ones that stayed at the time were not smart enough to get caught to be sent here

And then there is the on going stream of them that pay to move here.

So if all these methods are true, then surely rubbing the ball on ones trousers must be a form of cheating as well. Of course Croc, the Australians would never dream of cheating. Just rolling the ball along the ground, underarm, which of course we all know is perfectly allowable.

I always thought it was just a matter of self-gratification.

But as a former village-cricketer, would view any tampering with the ball, as unfair and contrary to the spirit of a very fine game.

But did you ever play against Minster C.C. ( I may have got you out if you did)

So if all these methods are true, then surely rubbing the ball on ones trousers must be a form of cheating as well. Of course Croc, the Australians would never dream of cheating. Just rolling the ball along the ground, underarm, which of course we all know is perfectly allowable.

I always thought it was just a matter of self-gratification.

So which ball is being tampered with.....

So if all these methods are true, then surely rubbing the ball on ones trousers must be a form of cheating as well. Of course Croc, the Australians would never dream of cheating. Just rolling the ball along the ground, underarm, which of course we all know is perfectly allowable.

can you change the record shady? that tracks nearly worn out, we could mention bodyline, but that was within the rules I believe also

So if all these methods are true, then surely rubbing the ball on ones trousers must be a form of cheating as well. Of course Croc, the Australians would never dream of cheating. Just rolling the ball along the ground, underarm, which of course we all know is perfectly allowable.

can you change the record shady? that tracks nearly worn out, we could mention bodyline, but that was within the rules I believe also

But ok in todays cricket

So if all these methods are true, then surely rubbing the ball on ones trousers must be a form of cheating as well. Of course Croc, the Australians would never dream of cheating. Just rolling the ball along the ground, underarm, which of course we all know is perfectly allowable.

can you change the record shady? that tracks nearly worn out, we could mention bodyline, but that was within the rules I believe also

but quite acceptable in todays criket