Dom Sibley has revealed how Chris Woakes helped him reach out to the umpires after Sibley inadvertently applied saliva on the ball during the second Test between England and West Indies.

During the 42nd over of the West Indies’ second innings, Sibley admitted to having used saliva to shine the ball, following which the umpires had to disinfect it. The use of saliva to shine the ball is currently banned by the ICC amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with teams facing a five-run penalty after two warnings per innings.

Sibley, while speaking to BBC, revealed how Chris Woakes advised him to tell the umpires about the saliva usage straightaway. “To be honest, I never really get involved with shining the ball,” he said. “I was at mid-off because I wasn’t in the slips this game, you always get the ball, and when you see the ball you try and want to shine it. And I was fine, I had done it for almost two-three-four hours, fine, [there was] nothing.

“And there was a review, I was still watching the screen, and you know when you are focussing on something else, suddenly your attention goes away from what you should be doing. And just like a natural habit, I just went like that and [applied the saliva]. I said to Woakesy [Woakes] straightaway – I’m close mates with Woakesy – ‘Mate, I’ve just put saliva on the ball, what should I do?’ And he said, ‘I’ll just tell the umpires, you won’t get into trouble.’

Sibley’s actions in admitting his accidental use of saliva were met with praise by Ian Bishop on commentary.https://t.co/iQLEdGROLP

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 19, 2020

“And I was thinking, ‘No, no, I swear, I don’t want to get fined or anything.’ I just told them, and they were very chilled about it, the umpires, they just said like, ‘make sure, you’re honest, because obviously the cameras might pick it up and it might look worse if you don’t say anything.’

“So, it was one of those moments that you’re so used to doing it through the number of years that you have been playing cricket and as soon as my focus got taken off the ball and I was watching the review, it was almost a second nature. So, yeah, it was obviously not ideal but it is a part of the new norm.”