Former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff conceded to the fact that the English team back in the days used to tamper with the ball.
While talking about the ball-tampering scandal, Flintoff suggested it’s not fair what Steven Smith and co. had to go through.
“No – I think the crime doesn’t warrant that. One of the things which have really annoyed me is that I’ve seen people raising their profile on the back of other people’s misery,” he continued,” Flintoff told during an interview.
“I’ve seen people I’ve played with, who have been good to me; I have seen them change in the space of two seconds. All of a sudden (they say) ‘Let’s call for their head, this is disgusting, this is disgraceful,” Andrew Flintoff podcasted to BBC.
“Some of them are in glass houses. Don’t be chucking your stones, lads. We’ve done a few things which aren’t particularly in the rules – not as bad as that – and it changes,” continued Flintoff.
“Then I saw Steve Smith on TV crying his eyes out, so upset, and I put a tweet out saying: ‘Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted?‘” the English great stated.
However, the former Lancashire man rubbished the fact that the bowlers were not wary of the proceedings at Cape Town, as Steven Smith claimed.
“I am struggling to think that not everyone (in the team) knew, I might be completely wrong but you talk about it, you talk about how you’re going to treat the ball. The ball in cricket is so important,” the cricketer turned boxer said.
“To say that a bowler has got a ball in his hands, or anybody else in the field does not know that this ball has been tampered with is absolute nonsense,” Andrew Flintoff concluded.
Flintoff did not quite provide the entire detail about the bending of rules mentioned. Previously, former opener Marcus Trescothick disclosed about the use of mints and jelly to shine the ball in his autobiography. It included the 2001 and the iconic 2005 Ashes series.
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