David Warner, the Australia opener, has said that he’s against the proposed ban on using saliva to shine the ball once cricket resumes.
The sport is grappling with an unprecedented situation – mainstream cricket has been on hold since mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic – and talks are abound on how to go about things once cricket resumes, given the highly infectious nature of the new coronavirus.
Accepted practices, such as using saliva to shine the ball, are expected to be a thing of the past once cricket returns, with the ICC even reportedly considering legalising the use of artificial substances to shine the ball instead.
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However, Warner believes a ban on saliva alone wouldn’t make much of a difference. “You’re sharing changerooms and you’re sharing everything else, I don’t see why you have to change that,” Warner told cricket.com.au.
“It’s been going around for hundreds of years now, I can’t recall anyone that’s got sick by doing that. If you’re going to contract a bug, I don’t think it’d necessarily be just from that.
Using saliva to shine the ball could well be banned when cricket resumes. What alternative methods would you like to see legalised?https://t.co/CVHG0HvfiN
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) April 24, 2020
“I’m not too sure, but it’s not my place to comment on whether or not we should or shouldn’t [use saliva to shine the ball]. It’s up to the ICC and the governing bodies to decide.”
There have been many suggestions on how to go about maintaining the ball in the post-Covid world – Jason Gillespie, for one, believes the umpires can be tasked with monitoring the shining of the ball, while Richard Hadlee has suggested making balls with an “enlarged seam to give the bowlers more assistance”.
