Cricket Australia to Stop the Use of Saliva or Sweat to Shine the Ball

Cricket Australia has decided to restrict the use of saliva and sweat to shine the ball once the things come into play after the coronavirus outbreak. The Australian government has released the guidelines regarding the return of sports amidst the pandemic. It is named as “The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Framework for rebooting sport in a COVID-19 environment”. 

The framework, which outlines a staged return to play, has three stages — Level A, Level B, and Level C. Sports is labeled under Level A due to which all the other training is restricted except the individual kind. Though, it will soon move to Level B which includes “Nets — batters facing bowlers. Limit bowlers per net. Fielding sessions — unrestricted. No warm-up drills involving unnecessary person-person contact. No shining cricket ball with sweat/saliva during training.”

The final Level C would be permitted later in the year. It is outlined as: “Full training and competition. No ball shining with sweat/saliva in training.”

Cricket Australia will work according to the government

The cricketing board of Australia released a statement stating that they will follow all the protocols and guidelines to ensure the safety of the players and the viewers. 

CA said in a statement, “As and when restrictions are lifted, CA will seek advice from medical experts including our own Chief Medical Officer, John Orchard, and relevant government agencies to support the cricket community with protocols and guidelines that allow community cricket to recommence as early and as safely as possible,” 

 Also, Cricket Australia is looking forward to recommencing the game as early as possible. The institution is facing a huge financial crisis due to the abandonment of cricket in the country. CA is hoping to host the T20 World Cup in October-November along with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in December-January. 

“Cricket Australia will continue to work with the government to prepare a comprehensive biosecurity plan to ensure we are as prepared as possible to deliver elite cricket content on Australian soil, including an exciting summer of cricket highlighted by the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 and the Border-Gavaskar Test series between Australia and India,” it added.