47
England fast bowler Liam Plunkett has been cleared by the International Cricket Council following allegations he may have tampered with the ball during the second one-day international against Pakistan.
A short sequence from Saturday's match in Southampton led to a debate on Twitter, with some on social media suggesting the 34-year-old had been involved in an act of foul play as a result of a three-second clip showing Plunkett rubbing his fingers along the surface of the ball.
Plunkett himself is understood to have raised the issue with officials after becoming aware of the allegations and he has since been exonerated fully by umpires Chris Gaffaney and Paul Reiffel, with the agreement of match referee Richie Richardson.
“The ICC has confirmed that the match officials are comfortable there was no attempt by Liam Plunkett to change the condition of the ball or any evidence of this on the over-by-over examinations of the ball throughout Saturday's ODI clash in Southampton,” said a statement issued by the global governing body on Sunday.
England, hosts of the upcoming men's ODI World Cup, beat Pakistan by 12 runs at Southampton to go 1-0 up in the five-match series, with Plunkett taking two wickets for 64 runs in nine overs after Wednesday's series opener at The Oval was washed out.
The teams meet again in Bristol on Tuesday.
Read more
On DawnNews
Comments (47) Closed
May 12, 2019 11:51pm
Ofcourse they did.
Recommend
0
May 12, 2019 11:51pm
ofcourse they did, had this been someone from Pakistan?....
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 12:22am
Biased deceision by ICC. If it is a Pakistani player he will be accountable but white player is not.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 12:22am
If that was Pakistan or India would the match referees been so forgiving?
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 12:25am
What other options does I.C.C. had in this particular case but to exonerate the English cricketer for obvious reasons, elaboration on which might not fare well with the current "movers and shakers" of I.C.C. sitting in New and Old Delhi?
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 12:30am
Had this been done by someone from pakistan strict measures wouldve been taken against the player but ....... Is this called fairplay.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 12:35am
ICC doesn't have much credibility when it comes to penalizing players of certain countries.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 01:00am
Cheating ?
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 01:11am
Above the law
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 01:23am
Off course this is ICC and Liam's name is not Amir.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 01:49am
Any player apart from England, Australia and India would have been banned from the world cup.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 01:51am
PCB should report the incidence to ICC. It is very clear video. It is joke that ICC spoke to the bowler who is involved and asked 'did you do it?' Surely he will say no, imagine asking criminal re his criminal act.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 01:52am
Of course they would.. Only Asian players are scrutinised and victimised in media. Had this been Hasan Ali.. They would have banned him or suspended him till " further inquiry".
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 01:57am
The short clip clearly showed that Plunkett tempered the ball by rubbing his nails on the ball to create rough surface. Had this been done by any other country then ICC would have taken seriously, and made fuss about it. Definitely, double standards!
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 02:36am
WE all knew that ENGLAND players can not do anything WRONG,especially when THEY are losing,IF it is from other Asian country those player would have been banned and fined heavily.So who said England and ICC are NOT bias.If Plunkett did not temPetr with the ball,then what was he scrating the ball for,ARE the public and Umpire BLIND.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 02:38am
Ball tempering is part of the game, Pakistan would have kept that in mind, or start making good international connections to prove that camera was not lying
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 02:56am
Ball tempering punishment is for Pakistani players only.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 02:58am
ICC (International Cricket Council) is just behaving like the UN name sake organization ICC (International Criminal Court) which recently refused to investigate any war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq when US threatened them with sanctions, visa refusal, etc. Racism and might is right are still the bitter truths ruling today!
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 03:05am
How quickly ICC cleared him.i doubt even thaty completed the investigation.this proves the biased behaviour of ICC.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 03:08am
Can't trust Indians and English. Different standards apply here. The ball was clearly tampered with. Only a white man or a blind man will not see this.
This is why I stopped watching cricket. It is no longer a gentleman's sport. It is now JUST A GAME.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 03:14am
Shameful double standards!
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 03:46am
@Uzi, Basically our Board is weak No one listen
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 04:14am
Double standards, it is concluded that they can repeat the same in future !
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 04:17am
Such mal practices have destroyed the game, selective punishment has however further detoriated it to the point of no return.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 04:34am
It's double standards, ICC's should be challenged...
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 04:35am
Err, what..!?
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 04:35am
Wow !!! Double standards as usual
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 05:00am
Wow, unbelievable. That was clearly ball temparing. Do you really have to bite the ball to be charged?
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 06:06am
@Uzi, They are all the same breed!!
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 06:07am
it is clear from the brief clip that he did scratch the seam, it doesn't look like he was massaging the ball. And what a lame excuse from ICC that it didn't change anything. He did try whether it worked or not is different question.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 06:12am
ICC prejudice!!!
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 06:18am
As an avid cricket fan, I would, in all fairness, seriously advise ICC to take another look at the video.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 06:19am
If he is at fault, he will be caught again. If he is honest, then he should not be penalized.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 06:25am
If it was Pakistani he would have faced atleast banned on few matches
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 06:51am
If this would be done from Pakistani player he would have been punished by now and becomes breaking news in England news paper and TV channels. Plus some so called geniuses also started to connect with match fixing.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 06:53am
As expected, because England belongs to big-3. Shame on you ICC
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 06:54am
Because of such decisions, cricket is no more a gentleman's game.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 07:50am
Had this been from Pakistan side, they will put ban for three matches
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 08:11am
Double standard ICC
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 08:22am
Rubbing with trousers - almost everyone does it. Rubbing with fingers is no different. But biting it or using finger naills (Shahid Afridi) or using sand paper (Aussie trio), now that is a different ball game.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 08:49am
Of course Plunkett is not Pakistani.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 09:27am
If this was a Pakistani, we would have been out of the World Cup. Double standards at its peak.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 10:35am
Is the icc chairman from india?
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 02:15pm
It wasn't Pakistan so England are squeaky clean.
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 02:28pm
Clearly looks like scratching.....but then UCC is blind when it comes to.white coloured players. Shame on ICC referees and ICC
Recommend
0
May 13, 2019 09:36pm
wait it was art off fingers not ball tempering for england and other countries bowlers, but not for pakistan player can not even wipe the dirt from ball.
Recommend
0
May 14, 2019 03:59am
Whites are super humans, remember?
Recommend
0
