Australia captain denies using lip balm to ball tamper
Australian cricketer Steve Smith has denied tampering with a ball after footage of him rubbing his fingers on his lips before shining the ball.
There was a storm on social media after the footage circulated, with accusations Smith transferred lip balm to the ball.
But the Australian captain denied he used lip balm, saying it was ‘‘all spit’’.
The laws of cricket allow players to polish the ball ‘‘provided that no artificial substance is used’’.
‘‘People said something about lip balm. If you look at my lips, they’re pretty dry, I certainly didn’t have any of that on,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s just the way I get some spit into the side of my mouth and get some spit onto the ball. There was nothing in it.’’
Smith called for a change to the video umpire laws after being out to a contentious call in Australia’s loss to England on Sunday night.
Australia had been managing their run chase well until Smith’s controversial dismissal at the end of the 34th over.
Smith was clearly unhappy as he left the field after video umpire Kumar Dharmasena ruled wicketkeeper Jos Buttler had completed a clean catch.
With replays unable to conclusively show the ball had hit the ground, there was insufficient evidence to overturn the on-field decision. Had the on-field umpire deemed Smith not out, it’s almost certain he would have survived.
Smith wants the decision to be taken completely out of the hands of the on-field umpires and left upstairs to the video room.
‘‘It’s irrelevant what I think, it got given out so I had to walk off the field,’’ Smith said.
‘‘I’m not sure I’m a big fan of the ruling with the soft signal. That’s obviously the rule at the moment and it’s hard to overturn anything.
‘‘We’ve seen a few this summer that have been pretty similar and if the fielder goes up and actually celebrates they usually get given out and if you’re a bit apprehensive of what’s happened they normally get given not out.
‘‘It’s hard for them to overturn the decision. I’d actually like for the third umpire to have to make the decision whether it’s out or not.’’
Former England captain Kevin Pietersen also wants the rule to be changed.
‘‘We’ve got enough technology and broadcast out there we should be able to make decisions off the camera and take the decisions away,’’ Pietersen said on Channel Nine.
‘‘The soft signal, I’m not having the soft signal. It’s a very, very big passage of play that.’’
Buttler said he had taken the catch cleanly.
‘‘I was pretty sure it was out. I think any wicketkeeper would tell you, you know if you get your fingers underneath it,’’ Buttler said. ‘‘It always look a bit either way on TV but for me it was out.’’
Smith was concerned about his team’s poor form and his inability to transfer his Test dominance into the 50-over arena.
Smith, who will continue batting at No.4 after dropping down the order, said he lacked fluency during his knock of 45 off 66 balls.
‘‘I’ve got to play some better cricket. It was about me trying to control the middle with the spinners and keep getting off strike. Tonight I wasn’t good enough at that .
‘‘I should have been up around a run a ball, it would have made things a bit easier at the back end,’’ Smith said.
‘‘I don’t know what it is. I’m not watching the ball closely enough or something like that. Not many balls were hitting the middle of my bat, which was disappointing.
‘‘Something to look at for Adelaide, hopefully I can do it a lot better and start helping this team win some games of cricket.’’