Slander cricketer possessing unnatural ability? (9)

I believe the answer is:

bespatter

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'slander' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'cricketer possessing unnatural ability?' is the wordplay.
'cricketer' becomes 'batter' (someone batting).
'possessing' is an insertion indicator.
'unnatural ability?' becomes 'esp' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'batter' placed around 'esp' is 'BESPATTER'.

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(Other definitions for bespatter that I've seen before include "Defame" , "Make mess of" , "Spray with droplets" , "Dirty" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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