Polishing up on spit
THE International Cricket Council is set to implement a ban this month on polishing the ball with spit.
The groin-rubbing activity of using sweat, however, is still permitted.
According to medical advice, saliva poses a COVID-19 transmission risk.
Saliva has been proved to spread hepatitis B and herpes, but not HIV.
In the early days of the AIDS crisis, social dancing seniors came with their own coffee cups and parishioners regarded the Eucharist chalice with suspicion.
My earliest memories of the social significance of spitting was when I asked my father the meaning of the sign in the butcher shop, “No Expectorating Allowed”.
I have to admit that I was a little repulsed when told how to spit-shine my leather high school shoes.
Although saliva with its antibodies and enzymes decreases the risk of contagion, Youtube health advice currently warns not to exchange saliva with non-regular sexual partners as well as not sharing toothbrushes, mouthguards and lips.
I’d never previously viewed cricket as sharing the leather ball.
Saliva-contaminated surfaces evidently lead to potential cross infection.
Every bowl whether resulting in a stumping or a six, travels much further than the five metres of a sneeze.
Australian cricket ball manufacturers Kookaburra have developed a wax to assist pace bowlers to swing the ball to eliminate batsman-friendly flat wickets, but current regulations don’t allow the application of “artificial substances”.
Most sporting commentators on the new restrictions are quick to make the comparison with the infamous 2018 ball-tampering scandal.
The manipulation of the aerodynamics of the cricket ball over decades have included applying foreign substances, other than the bodily fluids of sweat and saliva, to the leather casing, or bringing it into contact with chosen abrasive foreign bodies.
Vaseline, lozenges, mints, underarm deodorant, shoe spikes, trouser zips, fingernails, teeth, sugar and that sticky, bright yellow, granular-encrusted tape, misnamed sandpaper, have all been used.
At the risk of “waxing” lyrical, I’m tempted to quote the Duke of Edinburgh’s truism, “Cricket is more than just cricket”, or Sir Henry Newbold’s Victorian ballad of sportsmanship in cricket and life, Vitae Lampada, “Play up! play up! and play the game”.