SALIVA BAN IN CRICKET: Its a big change in 2020.

With the ongoing Corona pandemic that has devastated the world, it seems to have had its effects on the latest cricket matches which would be played at different locations. The latest being 3 new rules being introduced in cricket matches that will be played henceforth.

These decisions have the approval of the ICC’s Chief Executive Committee (CEC) which is based on the recommendations which had been made recently by the ICC cricket committee.

PENALTY FOR USE OF SALIVA ON BALL.

The ICC cricket committee, headed by former India captain Anil Kumble had recently recommended that sweat and not any artificial substance should be used to shine the ball. Sweat which seems to be a safer option when compared to saliva also seems to have the approval of Dr Peter Harcourt who is the ICC’s chief medical expert who is of the view that Covid-19 is an airborne respiratory infection and highly contagious.

The ICC has also suggested that the match officials will be allowed to penalize the teams only after a period of “leniency” as the players still need to get used to the playing conditions which would also comprise staying in the bio-secure environment and also playing behind closed doors.

Under any circumstances, if saliva had been applied on the ball to shine it by the fielding side, the ICC has recommended that the umpires will first clean the ball before recommencing the game. In a recent media release, the ICC has made it clear that “Players will not be allowed to use saliva to shine the ball”.

If a player does apply saliva to the ball owing to the regular practice by the bowlers in general, the umpires will have to manage the situation with some leniency during the initial period of the match so that the players can get adjusted to the new situation. Further, if this continues then the fielding the team will receive a warning from the umpire.

The fielding team will be issued up to 2 warnings per innings and if the fielding team still continues using saliva on the ball then the fielding team will receive a 5-run penalty to the batting side.

SUBSTITUTES IN TEST MATCHES.

The ICC has also said that the teams playing test matches will be allowed to replace a player if he or she shows symptoms of Covid-19 only during the period the test match which will be approved by the Match Referee.

HOME UMPIRES, 3 REVIEWS IN TESTS.

Owing to the current Covid-19 situation and the travel bans, the CEC has agreed that home umpires would stand in all the three formats of the game and this would be implemented for the first time since 2002. The CEC also further stated that the local umpires would be selected from the ICC’s Elite Panel and The international panel of match officials.

Further, to remove the perception of bias the cricketing committee has recommended that an additional review should be granted to each team in all the formats of the game, which was ratified by the CEC. The CEC had also confirmed an additional unsuccessful DRS review for each team in each innings of the match, just trying to keep in mind that there may be less experienced umpires standing on duty at times. This will further increase the number of unsuccessful appeals per innings for each team to three for a Test match and two for the white-ball formats.