Date-stamped : 28 Jul94 - 18:39
WE KNOW ALL ABOUT THIS IN PAKISTAN...

During that torturous fifth Test of 1992 at The Oval, when  Wasim
Akram  and  Waqar Younis were being reviled throughout England as
ball-doctoring cheats, the  quiet  figure  of  Michael  Atherton,
hands  in  pockets, watched the proceedings with a characteristic
quizzical expression. Seemingly he wanted no truck with  all  the
brouhaha being kicked up in the England dressing room.

Last Saturday he was the England captain and had in Darren  Gough
a  bowler who could send down an imitation, if a pale one, of the
late-swinging yorkers so lethally patented by  Wasim  and  Waqar.
But this time he could not ignore the brouhaha all around him.

On the street corners of Karachi and in tea-shops across the Pun-
jab yesterday there was much mirth at the weekend's incidents and
the reports that Atherton had  been  "involved  in  a  mysterious
ball-handling incident".

To streetwise Pakistanis the details clearly pointed to an inten-
tion  to  bring  about a change in the condition of the ball, but
they could have  been  forgiven  a  little  puzzlement  as  ball-
tampering is supposed to be the preserve of Pakistanis.

Similarly, Pakistanis have long been accustomed to  overseas  um-
pires being involved in errors of judgment whereas those from the
subcontinent have been told, in specific language, that when they
err they cheat.

Apart from the ball-handling terminology used so  effectively  by
the  press,  the  fact that Atherton was fined by the chairman of
selectors is seen in Karachi as a  cover-up.  Dock  him  now  and
avoid censure later, appears to be the official reasoning.

Has Atherton been rapped on the knuckles because he had  dirt  in
his  pocket  or  because he used that dirt on the ball? Or was it
simply because television caught him transferring the dirt?

Ball-tampering raises few eyebrows in Pakistan. We are accustomed
to  seeing the Australians using sunscreen. Lip salve on West In-
dian and English faces is not uncommon either. We know that seams
are lifted and picked.

What we do not know is why all that escapes the label of  "cheat"
whereas  roughing  one  side of the ball, using the same tools of
finger and thumbnail, gets bowlers into a horrific mess. And yes,
we are just waiting for the day when connection is made of Ather-
ton being a team-mate of Wasim at Lancashire.

- Fareshteh Gati is cricket  correspondent of the Pakistan daily,
The News (Thanks : The Guardian)

<END> Contributed by Vicky (VIGNESWA@*umass.edu)