Bizarre ways of ball tamapering

Cameron Bancroft hiding a yellow strip of sandpaper in his pants easily fits into one of the many bizarre ball-tampering tactics but perhaps more sillier in execution when hawks like 'Oscar-The Cameraman' are in operation.

The phenomenon of ball-tampering has been around for decades in the gentleman's game and the infamous incident in the third Test between Australia and South Africa has only put spotlight back into the 'illegal yet almost unavoidable' tactic.

In the mid-70's, one of the earliest allegations of ball tampering was levelled against England seamer John Lever, whom the Indian captain Bishan Singh Bedi had accused of using vaseline to aid pronounced swing during MCC's tour of India in 1976. Bedi was then targetted by the British media for trying to malign an England player.

The rule allows the use of sweat and saliva to shine the ball but it becomes an offence the moment you do that with an 'artificial substance', leaving a grey area in between.

The fielding sides has been found working on the ball for decades but it was not until 2000 when Waqar Younis became the first cricketer to be suspended for ball-tampering.

However during Pakistan's tour of 1992, the two W's Wasim and Waqar were accused of getting excessive reverse swing with allegation that they used bottle opener to scruff up the seam of the Dukes ball.

Repeatedly bouncing one side on the ground and scratching the seam are common ways of getting the seam scruffed up on abrasive surfaces but some players suddenly become more "creative" than required.