October 04, 2006	Wednesday	Ramazan 10, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 3: Former Pakistan Test pace bowler Sarfraz Nawaz on Tuesday offered his services to the International Cricket Council to catch bowlers tampering with cricket balls on the playing field.

''I can catch a player tampering with the cricket ball from 1,000 yards (metres),'' Nawaz said.

Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was found not guilty in the Oval Test's ball tampering fiasco last week. However, Inzamam was banned for four One-day internationals for bringing the game into disrepute when Pakistan protested against umpires' decision and stayed in the dressing room after the tea interval on the fourth day of the third Test against England.

As a result, umpires Billy Doctrove of the West Indies and Australian Darrell Hair awarded the test to England – the first-ever forfeit Test in the history of cricket.

But Nawaz said he believes ball-tampering has been going on in international cricket for quite some time. “It is rampant at the international level and, it's the incompetence of the umpires who cannot catch tampering,'' he said.

“I offer my services to the ICC to check the guilty players,'' he added.

Nawaz backed Inzamam in the ball tampering saga and said he believed that, since Pakistan had been accused of ball tampering in the past, “they (players) would have been foolish to do so, with so many cameras placed all over the grounds.''

Nawaz, who played 55 Tests and was famous as pioneer of the reverse swing, said there were many things involved in reverse swinging the cricket ball. “Bowling action of a player is the foremost while climate, pitches and outfield also count a lot in making the ball swing in reverse direction,'' he said.—AP