ZCZC
BSP-12
CRICKET-BOWLERS-SALIVA
Bangladesh bowlers to find new method instead of saliva
DHAKA, May 19, 2020 (BSS)-With ICC Cricket Committee recommending imposing
restriction on saliva to shine the ball, Bangladesh bowlers and coaches said
they would find a new way to survive in the game of cricket if the decision
is executed.
The changes in ICC regulations came to mitigate the risks posed by the
COVID-19 virus, and protect the safety of players and match officials.
The ICC Cricket Committee, led by Anil Kumble, heard from the Chair of the
ICC Medical Advisory Committee Dr Peter Harcourt regarding the elevated risk
of the transmission of the virus through saliva, and unanimously agreed to
recommend that the use of saliva to polish the ball be prohibited.
The committee also noted the medical advice that it is highly unlikely that
the virus can be transmitted through sweat and saw no need to prevent the use
of sweat to polish the ball whilst recommending that enhanced hygiene
measures are implemented on and around the playing field.
One of the Bangladesh most respected coaches Sarwar Imran said the sweat
can be useful in shining the ball even though some bowlers around the world
doesn’t see any merit in it.
“In my playing life, I never used saliva to polish ball, rather I shined
the ball, rubbing it in my trouser,” Imran told BSS today.
“Sweat can be useful. Though in modern day, bowlers use saliva, in our
days, we had never thought of using it. Rather I saw the bowlers using sweat.
Yes, in the country where summer season is short-lived, the bowlers don’t
experience sweat,” he said.
“So the bowlers from England, Australia, South Africa never thinks of using
sweat,” added Imran, also the coach of Bangladesh’s maiden Test against India
in 2000.
But Imran, a fast bowler of his playing life, said the bowlers will
definitely find a way to counter if saliva is testricted finally.
“The bowler of course will come up with some innovative ideas. The world
has changed, so as the cricket,” he remarked.
Because the conventional swing and reverse swing are important to produce
good contest between ball and bat, usage of saliva is imperative at least in
Test cricket.
In modern ODI and T20 cricket, most bowlers though relied heavily on
slower, cutter, yorker for which shining the ball is not that much important.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director Khaled Mahmud Sujon, who is also
coaching several clubs, said using sweat won’t shine the ball that much what
the saliva could do.
“I think using saliva is the best way to shine the ball. Yes you can use
sweat but as I experienced, it could make the ball heavy,” Mahmud said.
Ebadot Hossain, a regular fast bowler for Bangladesh’s longer version
format, said it would be tough to survive in Test cricket without using
saliva.
“It is difficult to sustain in the Test cricket without using saliva. But
if ICC prohibits it, we have to find a new way to survive. It actually matter
of being habituated with new method of shining the ball,” he told BSS few
days ago.
Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, however, put emphasis on finding a new way as an
alternative for shining the ball.
“The playing style and policy of cricket has been changing frequently. It’s
another change for which we have to be habituated. I think an alternative way
will be discovered for the bowlers to survive,” he said.
BSS/SMP/SH/1801 HRS