ICC Champions Trophy: AB de Villiers expresses tampering concerns

South Africa skipper AB de Villiers stoked the ball-tampering fire ahead of his team’s semifinal match against England as he noted that the hosts were getting the ball to reverse quicker than other teams.

“If they are doing something funny with the ball,then it’s definitely a concern,yes,” he said,before adding: “But we’ve got no proof of that. Look,they seem to get it to reverse a bit quicker than the rest of the teams so maybe they’ve just got really good skill in their bowlers,” said de Villiers,who had accused Stuart Broad of deliberately stamping the ball in order to scruff it up during a Test match in 2010.

“We’ve tried,as well — I think all teams try to do that,and we haven’t really managed to succeed in that,but we’ll try that again tomorrow and see if our bowlers can find that skill to reverse the ball.

“It’s something that the umpires and the ICC will probably look into why England and some of the other teams might get it to reverse quicker. All that is really not up to me to decide or to comment on that. But if there is something funny happening,then it’s definitely a concern,yes,” he added.