With a view to steer clear of the dangers of rubbing saliva on the ball in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, cricket is deliberating the usage of an agreed man made substance like wax or shoe polish under the supervision of the umpire to facilitate swing bowling. Effectively it is ball tampering under the current set of Laws.
ESPNcricinfo asked five former fast bowlers their thoughts on replacing spit or sweat with an man made substance. This is what they had to say.Not allowing sweat or saliva, murdering the bowlers: Ashish Nehra
What is ball tampering? When you scratch the ball on one side – with your nail, bottle cap, with your spikes or any other means – that doesn’t make the ball reverse. It’s important to use saliva, sweat, murray mints etc. to not just shine the ball, but also make the other side heavy. That is how you traditionally get reverse swing.
The other remarkable object to bear in mind is fast bowlers wish to practise the man made substances that will be permitted all through a match under the umpire’s supervision to polish the ball. You’ll be able to’t just expect fast bowlers to reach at a Test match and suddenly start swinging the ball even conventionally.
Bowlers wish to have the experience of the use of these man made substances, like wax or shoe polish, you are talking approximately to shine ball and understand its behaviour. Also different balls – Kookaburra, SG Test, Dukes – will behave another way on different surfaces. So there are many unknowns so far as I am concerned.
How many times am I allowed to approach the umpire to use the man made substance to shine the ball? When we put saliva, at times I would rub that after each and every second or third delivery. There are different ways to shine the ball. Infrequently you do not shine the other side totally, particularly whether your ball has landed on the seam. Infrequently the ball goes to boundary or into the stands and comes back damaged, then you shine the ball differently.
You shine a Kookaburra differently, a Dukes differently and you shine SG Test differently. You shine a new ball another way. When the ball is old and it is reversing. every now and then you put more sweat. When the ball isn’t reversing you are only the use of spit. When there’s a new ball you only put very, very little spit wherever there’s a scratch. What I’m trying to say is there are severe different ways of shining the ball.
Let’s assume a Test match is on and the ball, SG Test, is semi-new, approximately 25 overs old. But it isn’t reversing and the ball has turn into a bit soft. Umpire is refusing to replace the ball. Now whether you put too much spit on SG Test the ball gets an increasing number of softer. Then you do not get the zip as a fast bowler or even as a spinner.
Also you must ensure that your teammates aren’t the use of too much sweat or spit in this kind of scenario. I used to be told by [Javagal] Srinath when I used to be young when to shine and not and in a similar fashion I passed the tips to other youngsters – that it is better to retain the run rate tight and once the ball starts to reverse when it is a little more old then we will be able to apply sweat or spit to facilitate further swing.
So by legalizing use of a few man made substances to shine the ball under supervision isn’t suddenly going to help swing the ball. Because you are used to working on the ball naturally the use of spit and sweat at different points on different ball in different conditions on different surfaces.
I feel a better choice could be to allow a team to select one player who will be specifically in charge of the use of saliva on the ball when there’s a wish to shine. That may be a much better alternative because that way we will be able to continue to naturally work on the ball.
By permitting man made substances to aid swing, the ICC is going back by itself rules. But so far as I am concerned allowing wax, vaseline etc on the ball isn’t precisely equivalent to ball tampering. Whether it if truth be told says go ahead and rough the ball from the other side, then probably the bowlers will welcome the move. Because with a bit of practice the bowlers will dominate the batsmen, who are bound to say it is unfair. But in case you are saying the man made substance is allowed for use only on the shiny side and the other side cannot be touched, then you might see more instances of teams piling enormous totals.
Personally I feel not allowing to use your own sweat or saliva is once again murdering the bowlers. As told to Nagraj Gollapudi
Michael Holding talks all through an interview with ESPNcricinfo Bipin Patel
I don’t understand the logic: Michael Holding
I have read that ICC is contemplating preventing people from the use of saliva on the ball because of Covid-19 and permitting them to use foreign substances on the ball to retain the shine on but in front of the umpire. I don’t understand the logic at the back of that.
Before they got to that point they said whether they restart cricket it needs to be played in a biosecure surroundings. They were saying cricketers for example must isolate themselves for two weeks to ensure that everything was once fine for when they got to the venue before the match started. And everyone involved (with the match) should do the same object.
Now in case you are saying everyone is in the biosecure surroundings, you are staying in the same hotel, you aren’t moving for the length of time you are playing the matches, whether that’s the case why are you worried approximately someone’s saliva? That person according to what you are doing will have to be free of Covid-19. Whether the ICC thinks that the two-week period to prove that you’re free of Covid-19 isn’t foolproof, then that means you are putting everyone in that surroundings in jeopardy? Why would you wish to have to play cricket under those circumstances? It’s either protected or it is not. No guessing, please. As told to Nagraj GollapudiNot imaginable to prevent a bowler the use of his sweat or saliva – Waqar Younis
As a fast bowler I reject this because this [using saliva and sweat] is a natural process. A ball exchanges hands all day, you run in, huffing and puffing, you sweat and the use of saliva is natural slightly than on mean. It is a habit and you just can’t keep an eye on this aspect.I don’t know the way this discussion came up but I feel people who want the game to be played are frustrated with the lockdown. They’re overthinking approximately it. I doubt this new idea of the use of (man made) substance instead of saliva is a solution. You’ll be able to make a bowler use a predefined substance on the ball, but at the same time virtually it is not imaginable to prevent a bowler the use of his sweat or saliva. As told to Umar Farooq
Mitchell Starc has a chat with bowling coach Allan Donald AFP
Interested to hear what big-name batsmen have to say – Allan Donald
I absolutely accept as true with legalising ball-tampering. I said so in an article sometime in the 2000s. It happens besides, we see guys throwing the ball on the ground and umpires say to throw it up and it’s pretty apparent what they’re doing. It could work whether it is well-monitored.
There is no reason why in case you are in point of fact struggling at the SCG and you are on the lookout for reverse swing, you should not be in a position to check out and get some by working the ball. It evens the game out.I don’t intent you will have to have the ability to bring bottle tops onto the field or bite the ball but I genuinely think there is scope for working on the ball whether it is timely controlled. As an example, perhaps you have to throw the ball into the ground for a time period and that that time elapses. I had never thought of shoe polish. I imagine you’d take a whole box available in the market and get buffing.
When I first started I had a chat with the great Imran Khan and he told me they used to wet one side of the ball a lot, with moisture, with sweat and get it heavy and retain the other side shiny. It was once tough work and it took a very long time so whether there’s differently, that may also work. We realize in baseball they use something, I think it’s still a mystery, to receive the ball to swing in and dip.
I’m rather surprised to hear this is being regarded as. It’s rather enlightening. I’d be interested to hear what the big-name batsmen have to say approximately this because I am certain there will be a couple of comments. But I say whether there’s anything that can work, we might as timely give it a crack. As told to Firdose Moonda
How will they monitor what substance for use – Azhar Mahmood
I don’t brain this kind of move even though I am more interested in how they’re going to monitor what the substance for use is. I think the ball manufacturers could have a big role to play in what is used, as they’re going to realize best what sort of substance is most suitable to the leather that is being used on the ball. It could be that bowlers are allowed to use a small bottle, like a hand sanitiser bottle, of the substance to use as shine on the ball.” As told to Osman Samiuddin