English cricketers Rory Burns and Mark Wood stole the headlines over the weekend after their… shall we say “interesting” approach to the ball during their test against India.

Wood thought he was playing football when he attempted to kick the ball through the legs of Burns who stopped it by placing his spiked shoes on it.

Social media being what it is nowadays blew up accusing the English side of ball tampering.

To distract from this “clear and obvious” outrage, the English cricketers decided to give the reporters something else to cover with a monumental batting collapse to lose the match.

Ball tampering legal or otherwise, has been a part of cricket for a long time but some players have been caught out going a bit too far with varying levels of punishment.

Michael Atherton – 1994

During a 1994 test against South Africa, then English captain Atherton was caught on camera rubbing a substance on the ball.

Atherton claimed it was dirt in his pocket used to dry his hands.

A £2000 fine was levied for failing to disclose the dirt to the match referee.

Waqar Younis – 2000

One of the most famous pace bowlers of all time, Younis became the first player suspended for ball tampering in 2000.

Plagued by accusations of misconduct from Pakistan’s 1992 series win in England, Younis was found guilty after a test in 2000 and banned for one match.

Safe to say he thinks he would be fine in the modern era.

That did nothing to slow down what was a remarkable career.

Sachin Tendulkar – 2001

With Sri Lanka touring South Africa, Tendulkar was caught on camera scuffing the seam of the ball although his defence was that he was trying to remove a piece of grass.

https://twitter.com/cric27/status/981949768514469888?s=20

In a development that was a surprise to nobody, accusing Tendulkar did not go down all that well with the Sri Lankan fans and players.

Eventually his ban was suspended but not before a litany of incidents between the second and third tests which saw several teammates receive punishment as well.

Pakistan – 2006

Accusations of ball tampering were overshadowed by the decision of umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove to award the test match in question to England through a forfeit.

England were awarded five penalty runs after the umpires declared that the ball had been altered, however the Pakistan team denied those accusations.

Inzamam ul-Haq received no punishment for his actions in this match.

The fallout from this game would continue with the result being changed to a draw before eventually being re-adjudicated as an English win.

Umpire Hair was eventually suspended by the ICC.

Stuart Broad and James Anderson – 2010

Another incident with a team touring in South Africa as a pair of English players were accused on the ground of trying to manipulate the ball on a hot day at Newlands.

Broad stepped on the ball and Andersson was seen picking at the leather however South Africa did not make a formal complaint about the issue, instead raising the issue at a press conference.

Safe to say they did not have too many dramas with the state of the ball, blasting the English attack to all corners of the ground.

Shahid Afridi – 2010

Cricket is hungry work from time to time although the actions of Afridi might be taking things a little bit too far.

During a one day international at the WACA, the Pakistani stand in skipper was seen biting into the ball, perhaps thinking it was a gigantic mint.

In the aftermath, the punishment was a two-match suspension.

You hope that he remembered to brush his teeth thoroughly that night.

Faf du Plessis – 2013

The first such incident involving a South African player came during their match against Pakistan in Dubai when cameras caught him using the zipper on his pants pocket to scuff the ball.

There were five penalty runs added to England’s total and du Plessis was fined.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3xij5rNzaI

Vernon Philander – 2014

Fellow South African Philander was also accused in that 2013 match but eventually was cleared.

During an Australia tour in early 2014 however, he was accused of the same action, scratching the ball and was fined 75% of his match fee.

Faf du Plessis – 2016

This is not a typo, around three years after his zipper incident, du Plessis was caught up in a controversy again, this time involving a mint.

His fine was doubled from the 2013 incident, going from half to his whole match fee.

Even he thought he got off easy.

Virat Kohli – 2016

Indian captain Kohli was caught up in the du Plessis mint hype when pictures from an earlier test emerged of him allegedly ball tampering was caught on film.

Because they came out after the ICC’s five day window to review footage, no punishment was levied and Kohli came out to defend himself.

Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft – 2018

It turns out Australia was not immune to the ball tampering trend as we found out in March 2018.

Once it was discovered, the reaction was rather intense with a media pile on with press conference after press conference and calls for the players to be banned for life.

Bancroft was banned for nine months while Smith and Warner were wiped out for a full year.