e-Paper
The Covid-19 pandemic could force cricket officials into making a massive concession around ball-tampering.
Current rules prohibit the use of artificial substances to polish the cricket ball.
However, with the onset of the coronavirus crisis and the need for strict health and safety protocols to be introduced when the sport resumes, that could all change.
Shining one side of the cricket ball - by applying saliva and rubbing it against clothes - is a fundamental part of the game.
The practice is crucial for fast bowlers in order to extract swing from the ball and make it more difficult for batsmen to face.
The obvious problem lies with the fact that many pairs of hands are touching the same ball that multiple samples of saliva have been applied to.
In the current coronavirus climate, that practice simply isn't feasible.
ESPN Cricinfo reported that the issue is one law-makers are set to discuss before cricket can resume, with officials seemingly open to ideas that would have previously been deemed off the table.
The report said that allowing the "use of an agreed artificial substance to polish the ball under the supervision of the umpires" will be considered.
Under the current laws of the game, this would be considered ball-tampering, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Marylebone Cricket Club's world cricket committee are expected to discuss the idea late this month or next month.
When asked recently about not being able to shine the ball using saliva, Australian Test bowler Josh Hazlewood said it would present an enormous challenge.
"I think the white ball would be fine, Test cricket would be very hard," Hazlewood said.
"Bowlers rely on any sort of sideways movement in the air. If you didn't maintain the ball at all for 80 overs, it would be quite easy to bat after that initial shine has gone.
"Whether you use saliva or sweat, maybe one person can do it. I'm not sure. It's something that will have to be talked about when we get back out there and hopefully come up with a solution."
Australian Test bowling legend Jason Gillespie said the practice of spitting on a cricket ball is an issue around hygiene that should have been looked at long ago.
"I don't think anything is off the table," he told ABC Grandstand. "It could be a point where at the end of each over, the umpires allow the players to shine the ball in front of them but you can only do it then.
"I don't have an answer to that but it certainly will be a conversation that will be had. If you think about it, it (spitting on the ball) is pretty gross."
India great Sachin Tendulkar believes shining the ball may become a thing of the past when cricket resumes after the coronavirus outbreak.
With increased focus on social distancing and personal hygiene to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the sport stares at a changing landscape.
"Shining the ball will change, I think," Tendulkar told Reuters.
"Everyone will be conscious of maintaining social distancing, giving high-fives to each other and hugging after celebrating the fall of a wicket.
"I don't think those things are going to happen. It may happen instinctively but consciously players would want to make sure that they follow certain norms.
"During this period, personal hygiene has been at the forefront."
Former Australia captain Ian Chappell said some form of ball-tampering could be allowed in cricket as fans craved a genuine contest between bat and ball.
He has previously suggested that international captains be asked to come up with a list of natural substances bowlers feel would help them swing the ball.
"From this list, the administrators should deem one method to be legal with all others being punishable as illegal," he wrote on the Cricinfo website.
"With cricket on hold, this is the ideal time to conduct the exercise. Using saliva and perspiration are now seen as a health hazard, so bowlers require something to replace the traditional methods of shining the ball."
Current laws forbid the use of artificial substances to alter the ball, but there is a long history of tampering that goes well beyond bowlers spitting on the ball and rubbing it on their clothing.
Test players have been accused of using lozenges, petroleum jelly and resin to shine the ball and also scuffing it with bottle tops, trouser zippers and grit.
The most notorious recent case was in 2018, when some Australian players attempted to alter the ball with sandpaper during a Test against South Africa in Cape Town, resulting in lengthy bans for those involved.
Reuters, Indo-Asian News Service
"Shining the ball will change, I think. Everyone will be conscious of maintaining social distancing, giving high-fives to each other and hugging after celebrating the fall of a wicket." - Sachin Tendulkar
