Pakistan pioneers hail reverse swing as 'art' not 'cheating'

Pakistan's masters of reverse-swinging a cricket ball have unanimously defended it as an "art" which can be achieved without the tampering that ended in shameful bans for three Australian players.

Steve Smith had to step down as Australia captain and David Warner as vice captain after they orchestrated ball-tampering through batsman Cameron Bancroft in the Cape Town Test against South Africa last week.

Bancroft was found to have used a piece of sandpaper in an attempt to alter the condition of the ball while on the field to create swing for Australia's bowlers and deceive the South African batsmen.

Cricket Australia came down hard, handing a one-year ban each to Smith and Warner and nine months to Bancroft for sullying the country's sporting image.

In Pakistan, an internet meme swept social media appearing to show legendary pacemen Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis smiling over the incident -- with a caption that accused the Australians of being "amateurs" in their efforts to create reverse swing.

Former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz --- widely regarded as a pioneer of reverse swing -- refused to accept the implication that the skill requires ball-tampering.

"This is ridiculous to say reverse swing is cheating," Sarfraz told AFP. "You can achieve reverse swing without tampering with the ball.

"There is a conventional swing which is done with the new ball and then there is reverse swing which is achieved with an old ball and it has been proved in laboratories that reverse swing is a scientific phenomenon."
- 'It was and will remain an art' -
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"Conventional swing is simple -- if the seam is angled toward the slip fielders it will swing away from the right-handed batsman, and if the seam is angled towards the leg side it will swing into the batsman," explained Sarfraz. "Reverse swing is totally opposite."
- 'Sultan of Swing' -
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"Those allegations were hurtful," recalled Waqar. "Of course, reverse swing can be achieved without cheating. Nowadays most of the bowlers do that and get wickets and help their teams win."