Smith's Crew in SA

[DJC]

Firstly, I doubt it offers any real benefit at all, morons doing moronic stuff. It's not like the Pakistanis using bottle tops to really gouge the ball surface. Even if they had 40, 60 or 80 grit they would be smoothing out the lumps and crevices that benefit the bowler. Mostly likely it was a piece of 200 grit they often use to clean bat faces.

Secondly, I doubt it was happening in the first test, if it was happening back then or in the Ashes there would now be video footage coming out of it all over the place. FFS, they are not brain surgeons, they used a bright yellow piece of sandpaper, they should have just stuck up a neon sign!

Isn’t reverse swing achieved by loading one side of the ball with moisture?  Sandpapering the ball would make the surface more absorbent.