by Jerome Betts

(The captain and vice-captain of the Australian Test team in South Africa have been sent home and banned from playing for a year because of their role in ball-tampering.)

You see the green-capped bowler scampering
To field the bright red ball he nearly caught?
One side of it he’s polishing and pampering,
The other, roughing up, as he’s been taught—
With no “Not cricket!” scruples hampering—
A batsman may record a big fat nought
Through swing enhanced by cover-tampering.