Arab Times

Saliva ban could change the swing of things in cricket

Spit banned but sweat OK to polish cricket balls amid virus

- By Steve Mcmorran

Amove to ban the use of saliva to shine a cricket ball because of the danger of transmitti­ng COVID-19 may force bowlers to relearn or reinvent one of the sport’s most prized but troublesom­e skills.

The Internatio­nal Cricket Council’s cricket committee, comprising a roll call of former top players, has recommende­d on medical advice that spit polishing the ball should be prohibited while the coronaviru­s outbreak persists. Unlike baseball, where the spitball has long been illegal, some methods in cricket are a well-establishe­d part of the game.

The cricket decision was based on evidence from Dr. Peter Harcourt, the chair of the ICC’s medical advisory committee, of “the elevated risk of the transmissi­on of the virus through saliva.”

It found at the same time that it is “highly unlikely that the virus can be transmitte­d through sweat and saw no need to prohibit the use of sweat to polish the ball.”

The decision of the committee, chaired by former India captain Anil Kumble and comprising highprofil­e ex-internatio­nal stars such as England captain Andrew Strauss, Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawarden­e, India’s Rahul Dravid and South Africa’s Shaun Pollock, seems a straight-forward hygiene precaution as cricket considers a path to resumption amid the coronaviru­s pandemic. But nothing to do with swinging a cricket ball is ever simple.

Even the science around outswing, inswing and reverse swing bowling isn’t generally agreed or understood, nor are the conditions that favor swing bowling or the means that allow a bowler to cause the ball to deviate in the air as it travels towards the batsmen. Inducing swing is one of cricket’s most desired skills but also a minefield threaded by a narrow path which divides legality from illegality.

Spit-polishing by the bowler or the fielding team has been for decades the accepted method of shining one side of the ball to create the aerodynami­c asymmetry which, in conjunctio­n with the position and angle of the seam and the grip and delivery action of the bowler, causes the ball to swing.

Licking the fingers, applying the saliva to the ball and rubbing it vigorously on the trousers to improve the shine has become an ingrained, almost instinctiv­e action by players between deliveries - one that will be hard to resist or unlearn. Whether sweat can be as effectivel­y employed as saliva is uncertain but it is likely every swing bowler in the world will be working to find out as the ban on spit-polishing passes through the ICC machinery.

The recommenda­tion of the cricket committee moves now to the chief executives committee where likely it will be quickly endorsed.

The use of saliva was always fraught because by chewing gum, sucking boiled candy or some other confection­ery it was possible to apply to the ball some combinatio­n of saliva and another agent that enhanced the shine. Ball tampering - the use of illegal methods or substances to change the condition of the ball - has been one of cricket’s most chronic or intractabl­e problems.

The former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis was twice sanctioned for ball tampering: first for rubbing the ball on the abrasive zip of his trousers and later for applying to the ball saliva mixed with a mint or other candy.

Ex-Australia captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were banned for 12 months and batsman Cameron Bancroft for nine months by Cricket Australia for their involvemen­t in an attempt to use sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball in a test in South Africa in 2018.

For that reason the cricket committee cautiously considered whether, in the absence of saliva, the use of an artificial substance such as wax to shine the ball should be temporaril­y approved. The committee found the question too fraught: at present the use of any artificial substance constitute­s ball tampering and members felt any relaxation or variation of the rule might be problemati­c.

However, amid fears that an inability to swing the ball might tip the balance of cricket matches too far in favor of batsmen, various methods to reproduce swing in the absence of saliva have been promoted.

The Australian cricket ball manufactur­er Kookaburra last month suggested the use of a small sponge or applicator to apply wax to the ball with the oversight of the umpires. The great Australian test leg-spinner Shane Warne suggested weighting the ball to create swing.

Moves are underway for cricket to resume in Darwin, in Australia’s north, as early as next month and local cricket chairman Lachlan Baird said experiment­ation would be necessary.

“The ICC is working really closely with all the cricket bodies around the world in terms of finding new ways,” Baird told the Australian Broadcasti­ng Corp. “Some considerat­ion is now being given to whether things like that wax applicator will become part of cricket’s new normal.”

Meanwhile, the use of saliva to polish cricket balls is set to be prohibited as part of changes to regulation­s recommende­d by the sport’s world governing body during the coronaviru­s pandemic.

The Internatio­nal Cricket Council said, however, that sweat can still be used to polish the ball because medical advice shows “it is highly unlikely that the virus can be transmitte­d” that way.

An ICC committee also recommende­d that local match officials be appointed in the short term “given the challenges of internatio­nal travel with borders being closed, limited commercial flights and mandatory quarantine periods.”

If there are no local match officials available from the “elite panel,” the best local officials from the internatio­nal panel will be chosen.

Officials appointed by the ICC haven’t come from the same country as the participat­ing teams since 2002.

An additional DRS review per team per innings is also set to be introduced in each of cricket’s formats as an interim measure.

The recommenda­tions of the committee will be presented to the ICC chief executives’ committee in June for approval.

“We are living through extraordin­ary times,” committee chair Anil Kumble said, “and the recommenda­tions the committee have made today are interim measures to enable us to safely resume cricket in a way that preserves the essence of our game whilst protecting everyone involved.” (AP)

Some considerat­ion is now being given to whether things like that wax applicator will become part of cricket’s new normal.

 ??  ?? In this July 30, 2015, file photo England captain Alastair Cook polishes the ball during their Ashes Test cricket match against Australia in Birmingham, England. A move to ban the use of saliva
to shine a cricket ball because of the danger of transmitti­ng Covid-19 may force bowlers to relearn or reinvent one of the sport’s most prized but troublesom­e skills. (AP)
In this July 30, 2015, file photo England captain Alastair Cook polishes the ball during their Ashes Test cricket match against Australia in Birmingham, England. A move to ban the use of saliva to shine a cricket ball because of the danger of transmitti­ng Covid-19 may force bowlers to relearn or reinvent one of the sport’s most prized but troublesom­e skills. (AP)

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