“You scratch it, we change the ball,” Craig said. “There will be no more discussion, let’s play.”
Hours after the game finished, a CA statement said the ball had “deteriorated” and that no further action would be taken. “Both teams’ captain and manager were informed of the decision prior to the start of play,” the statement added.
“The ultimate decision is with CA isn’t it?,” Warner said. “I think they have obviously squashed it as fast as they could, given that India is coming out here this summer. But if the umpires deemed something happened, I am sure there will be a follow up. I think the umpires or the match referee should be standing here answering questions.”
“I think the match referee should be coming out and addressing his own staff which are the umpires. And if they’re sticking by the umpire’s decisions, you have to stand up for that. That’s obviously a statement CA have to release. I have not seen anything.”
It’s understood there is no footage available of anything untoward being done to the ball.
Under the laws, a five-run penalty is imposed if the umpires change the ball after they consider it to have been unfairly altered. However, the CA playing conditions include an extra clause which mean the umpires can make a change without implementing penalty runs if it’s unclear how the ball came to be damaged.
“The punishment that was handed down was there for a reason and I thoroughly accept that,” he said. “You’re always going to be disappointed that you can’t lead but what was done was done and I moved on from that.
“But I get the opportunity to lead the Thunder and share my wealth of knowledge about the game and hopefully some of the youngsters can come ask me some questions after the game, decisions that I’ve made or some errors that I might have made and have that confidence and hopefully one day they can grow into a captain as well.”
