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I have been going through this post when I stumbled across this doubt.

Is there anything like bat tampering in cricket?

I did a quick search through the Lords Laws of cricket, however, I haven't found any.

If there exists something like tampering related to the bat, then is there an official name for that?

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Essentially, no. So long as the bat conforms to Law 6, The bat, Appendix E, The Bat and any playing conditions under which the match is being played, "anything goes" (although the Laws are restrictive in what is allowed). In general, bats are set up to be as good as they can be at hitting the ball, so there would be no advantage to be gained from "tampering" with the bat.

One thing a batsman might want to do is to make the bat wider or longer, but it's hard to see how that could happen while they're at the crease without it being really obvious.

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  • Would you not consider that doing something to your bat that's against the laws (e.g. adding metallic tape) would be termed tampering? I appreciate we're talking about semantics here, but people can and do alter their bat's condition in an effort to make it perform better. – TrueDub Jul 21 '16 at 10:55
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    @TrueDub while some people may use the word "tampering", the Laws do not, nor do they suggest any explicit rule against the idea of it. Either a bat is legal or it is not - an illegal bat may not be used, and doing so probably contravenes Law 42 of nothing else. – Nij Jul 21 '16 at 11:24
  • @Nij, as I said, semantics. – TrueDub Jul 21 '16 at 11:52
  • @TrueDub I don't think this is merely semantic. There are at least two ways in which "bat tampering in cricket" - a de jure phrase and/or action and/or offence, and a de facto action and/or committing the offence as described. Both of these things can be entirely independent of each other (laws against something that never happens, things that happen on which rules are silent). It may pay to clarify more exactly which one you mean, since this answerer as well as myself are apparently focused on the law aspects and you seem to want information only about the fact or absence of tampering. – Nij Jul 23 '16 at 1:06

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