Shining the ball with saliva could be scrapped when cricket resumes globally after the coronavirus lockdown, according to Sussex head coach Jason Gillespie.
Ball shining is achieved with a combination of saliva and sweat but former Australian paceman Gillespie warned the former might need to be temporarily axed.
He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “It’s an actual genuine thing to be considered. I don’t think anything is off the table. 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 know. Is it just sweat? Can you only use sweat? 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’s pretty gross.”
There were directives from some local cricket associations towards the end of the season in Australia which actively discouraged shining the ball with spit.
But Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood (below) said it was unthinkable not to be able to shine the ball when it came to Test cricket.
“I think with a white ball it would be fine,” he said, “but in Test match cricket [not shining the ball] is going to be very hard I think.
“Bowlers obviously rely on sideways movement in the air or off the wicket. If you didn’t maintain the ball for 80 overs, it’d become quite easy to bat after probably about 15 overs, after that initial shine has gone off the ball.
“Whether you use saliva or sweat, maybe one person could do it? I’m not sure. It’s something we’d have to talk about when we get back out there and hopefully we can come up with a solution.”
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