|| CF Correspondent ||

Coronavirus may force the busting of one of cricket's greatest taboos, as authorities consider the possibility of allowing the use of artificial substances to help polish the red ball under the supervision of umpires in long-form matches, in order to end the need for player to do so with saliva, reports leading cricket website Cricinfo.

The problem posed by the use of saliva to polish the ball is understood to be among the items raised by the ICC's medical committee to be addressed before cricket can resume, meaning that lateral thinking is required to allow bowlers and teams to continue to find effective ways to shine the ball to help encourage conventional or reverse swing.

Decision-makers well understand the need for the ball to be polished to enable a fair balance in the contest between bat and ball beyond the early overs of an innings.

 As a consequence they are open to the option of allowing for the use of an agreed artificial substance to polish the ball under the supervision of the umpires - in the fashion they currently allow the ball to be cleaned by players under supervision. This would effectively allow for what is currently considered ball tampering, in the interests of health and safety.

Such a move would likely require flexibility in terms of the substance depending on the ball being used. Kookaburra, Dukes and SG balls, to name three, are all likely to respond better to slightly different substances such as leather moisturiser, wax or shoe polish. It would also require a degree of flexibility in terms of being allowed at all levels of the game, to prevent players at every level from sharing a ball that has been lathered in saliva. The two major groups likely to discuss the issue before cricket returns are the ICC cricket committee, set to meet via video conference in late May or early June, and also the MCC's world cricket committee, which cancelled its most recent meeting, scheduled for Colombo in Sri Lanka in late March.