Cricket might be called the "gentlemen's game", but it has been anything but at times over the years.
We count down the top 20 most controversial moments in cricket history.
From 2000 to 2001, Zimbabwe enjoyed its most prolonged period of sustained success. They defeated every Test nation except Australia and were verging on a historical moment, co-hosting the 2003 World Cup with South Africa.
Sadly, Zimbabwean cricket had reached its crevis, and authoritarian President Robert Mugabe had driven the knife deep enough.
During the first World Cup match on home soil, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga condemned their radical government. They wore black armbands against Namibia to mourn the death of democracy and stop the abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe.
The aftermath was significant. Flower and Olonga fled to England, and 14 contracted players walked out in 2004.
Politics and cricket don't mix. Monkeygate was the culmination of two proud countries unwilling to take a backward step. After India defeated Australia in the 2007 T20 World Cup Semi-Final, all-rounder Andrew Symonds stated the Indians got carried away with their celebrations and sparked a passion within the Australian camp.
Next month when the same sides met for an ODI series, Symonds, man-of-the-series with 365 runs at 73, was racially abused by the boisterous crowd and allegedly called a 'monkey' by Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh. Tensions had been simmering, and the fuse was lit.
It exploded the following Summer when they met in a heated Test series down under. Symonds and Harbhajan clashed again on Day 3 of the Third Test in Sydney. After Harbhajan swatted a four off Brett Lee and said 'bad luck,' Symonds rushed over, and the two clashed again, with Symonds stating Harbhajan called him a 'big monkey.'
A hearing followed, and Harbhajan faced a three-Test suspension. This suspension was reduced to a 50 per cent match fee fine after the BCCI threatened to boycott the series and go home. Still to this day, no one knows what happened.
Imagine this.
You are on the edge of another World Cup campaign, and your 17-man squad is ready to go. Immortality is only a fingertip away. Then you find out that your most decorated bowler in history has copped a 12-month ban for testing positive for a banned substance.
The substances were hydrochlorothiazide and amiloride, both diuretics. Warne had no idea the tablets were diuretic and thought they were a fluid tablet used for weight loss. In his own words, Warne copped the suspension on the 'chin' and believed it would help him in the long run.
True to his word, Warne returned strongly and took 217 wickets at 24.75 from his last 38 Tests.
It was a period that changed cricket forever. Following the 1970s trend of questioning authority, many cricketers who had been paid pocket money to represent their country demanded their full quota.
Australian media mogul Kerry Packer saw a chink in the traditional stoic loyalty of the Australian cricketers and set about exploiting it.
Packer was knocked back sensationally by the ACB (well-known traditionalists) for his idea to broadcast Test cricket on his channel.
Players who joined Packer were banned, as the best of the best signed with Packer. From there, we saw hilariously coloured clothing, better wages, exciting cricket, and night cricket under large floodlights.
The money paid now is commensurate to their skill, and limited-overs cricket with coloured clothing has expanded across every part of the globe.
Bob Woolmer's death sent shockwaves through cricket tragics across the globe. The night before, Ireland ruined Pakistan's chances in the 2007 World Cup in a three-wicket loss, the next day, their coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room.
It took a turn for the worst when the police stated that the autopsy findings were inconclusive. A murder investigation soon followed, which was then changed to an open verdict by an 11-member jury.
Many former cricketers such as Clive Rose and Ian Chappell believed a mafia betting syndicate murdered Woolmer. In an article with Cricinfo, Chappell even stated that Woolmer was on the verge of revealing a large underbelly that would've rocked the very foundations of the ICC.
This tragedy will forever be one of cricket's greatest mysteries.
"One of the worst things I have ever seen done on a cricket field."
A now-famous quote from the sporting immortal Richie Benaud, on this day 41-years-ago. Australian captain Greg Chappell forced his younger brother Trevor to bowl an underarm delivery with the final ball, with New Zealand requiring six runs to tie the match off the last ball.
What followed was pandemonium across the ditch.
After the game in the dressing rooms, you could hear a pin drop. The lengthy silence was only interrupted when Mark Burgess smashed a teacup, throwing it at a wall.
New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon said it was "true cowardice, and I consider it appropriate that the Australian team were wearing yellow."
The underarm delivery was the more commonly used delivery before 1864, yet was not outlawed from the cricketing rulebook, even though it was widely frowned upon.
Arguably the most talked-about cricketing incident since the underarm delivery, Sandpapergate is a moment in time where every cricket-lover knows where they were when they heard the news.
Regarded by some as the darkest day in Australian sport, broadcasting coverage saw Australian opener, Cameron Bancroft, rubbing the ball with yellow sandpaper in the Third Test of the highly anticipated clash between Australia and South Africa.
Steven Smith and David Warner fronted the media, lengthy bans were issued, and Smith and Warner faced 12-months on the sidelines. The media landslide involving Smith's tearful exit from South Africa was quite ironic.
His opposing captain Faf du Plessis, was charged for ball-tampering three times (albeit for minimal penalties). Maybe the Australian trio received harsher sentences for the game's greater good.
Hansie Cronje was the golden child.
South Africa revered Hansie, a virtuous sportsman who loved his country and religion.
He was a fierce captain and uncompromising batter. He captained South Africa in 76 per cent of his International matches, including 27 Test victories.
South Africa's golden idol came crashing down when the match-fixing scandal broke in April 2000, he confessed in June to have taken 100,000 in bribes since 1996.
Cronje had everything at his feet, including the adoration of a nation and the cricketing world. A modern-day Icarus, Cronje flew too close to the sun.
Found guilty and banned for life, Cronje, at 32-years-of-age died in a plane crash.
A scandal never before seen on a cricket field.
Captain Salman Butt conspired with his two fast bowling stars in Mohammed Amir and Mohammed Asif to deliberately bowl front-foot no-balls in the Third Test against England at the Oval in 2010.
As a cricketing nation, Pakistan was still repairing the damage after the cancellation of all Test cricket in their country. This banishment was due to the safety of other Test sides after the Sri Lankan Cricket Team suffered a terrorist attack in 2009.
An ominous cloud hovered over Lords after the 2010 Test Series, and Mohammad Amir, who had just been awarded man-of-the-match at 18-years-of-age was taken to the London court and eventually jailed in November 2011.
Spot-fixing is still a significant issue in cricket, with the IPL falling under the cloud in 2012, banning five players, and in 2013, banning three players.
Mohammad Amir made his domestic comeback in 2015, his International comeback in 2016, and was their best bowler in the 2019 World Cup with 17 wickets from eight matches. He retired from International cricket at 29-years-of-age in 2020.
"You can take leg-stump for protection... I'll take middle."
These were the famous words England fast-bowler Harold Larwood uttered to wicket-keeping teammate Les Ames.
Never before seen had a cricket match reached this level of hatred.
The Australian crowd wanted Larwood's head on a spike.
But why?
Because of Bodyline.
Bodyline was sustained short-pitched fast-bowling devised by England's aristocratic leader Douglas Jardine to thwart the magnificence of Donald Bradman.
Regarded by officials back then as sheer blasphemy, bouncers are now used to significant effect in modern cricket, and Jardine was the architect of this refined design.
Jardine brought with him a pace battery hell-bent on toppling one man on the hard spinning pitches in Australia. Before the Windies rose to fame as dangerously scary fast-bowlers, Harold Larwood's name sent shivers down the spine of any Australian fan in the 1932-33 Ashes series.
Think of Mitchell Johnson's 2014-15 impact, without a helmet or any protective equipment for that matter.
The Bodyline series reached its zenith in Adelaide when Australian wicket-keeper Bert Oldfield fractured his skull from a rising Larwood delivery. Australian Captain Bill Woodfull was struck dangerously above the heart the day before.
England's manager 'Plum' Warner rushed to the rooms to see Woodfull and was greeted with the famous quote, "I don't want to see you, Mr. Warner...There are two teams out there; one is trying to play cricket."
Australia and Prime Minister Joseph Lyons threatened to boycott the Commonwealth with a rule change ending the dangerous tactic.
Although Larwood followed his captain's orders, he never played cricket again. Jardine led England to a resounding 4-1 victory, and England didn't win another series in Australia till 1954-55.