Champaka: You’ve got to be patient, and not do illegal things

BCB’s High Performance bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake said the lure of tampering with the ball comes from the impatience of trying to reverse swing the ball early in the game. The former Sri Lanka pacer during an interview with Dhaka Tribune Sunday condemned such wrongdoings in the game and said the players should have more patience and let the ball shape in naturally. The words from Champaka, who returned to Bangladesh having previously worked with the Tigers between the years 2008 and 2010, came amid the ball-tampering controversy by Australia cricketer Cameron Bancroft. Australia captain Steve Smith and Bancroft admitted of ball-tampering on day three of their Cape Town Test match against South Africa. The Australian “leadership group’s” decision to change the condition of the ball during the game was caught on TV footage where Bancroft took a yellow tape out of his trouser pocket before rubbing the ball. Both Smith and Bancroft admitted to their wrongdoings. The ICC later slapped a one-match ban on Smith while Bancroft was fined 75% of his match fee. Smith and vice captain David Warner also relinquished their respective leadership roles. Australia will be led by wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Paine in the remainder of the Cape Town Test.

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Also read: Smith, Bancroft admit ball-tampering

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“Looking after the ball is absolutely fine. To get reverse one side has to be rough and the other has to be shiny. So balls get rough after like 50-60 overs and what you have to do only is to keep one part shiny. You do not have to do illegal things for that. But to get early reverse, people are doing the illegal things. You got to have patience. You do illegal things only if you are impatient, and it is not acceptable,” said Champaka to Dhaka Tribune Sunday. The former Sri Lanka right-arm pacer opined that the ball starts swinging naturally and one does not need to follow the illegal way to get the ball to reverse. Champaka said shining the ball is totally legal and the players should know how to do that well. “Shining the ball is a normal thing. Some conditions get you reverse swing anyways, you don’t have to do unnecessary things. See what happened. You do such things, you get caught and get punished. It does not look good at all. But you can always look after the ball by shining it. Everyone in the team knows which part of the ball to shine and which side to keep rough. So automatically one side becomes rough and the bowlers start getting the swing,” Champaka explained.