Cricket Australia wants to disinfectants on match balls and hence wants to seek permission from the ICC. The idea is to understand whether it will be helpful to reduce the health risk of the players as the game will go through some modifications in the post-coronavirus era.
Cricket Australia seek permission from ICC
Cricket Australia’s Sports Science and Sports Medicine Manager Alex Kountouris said that they have finalized a set of guidelines for players as the board is planning to resume their training and competitive cricket later this year. According to the notable expert, “Disinfecting the ball is a consideration. We’d have to speak to the ICC and get permission, there’s a lot of things (to consider). And whether it’s effective or not. The ball being leather, it’s harder to disinfect because it’s got little nooks and crevasses.”
He further added that it is one of the considerations only as nobody knows how the ball could get infected or whether this idea would get nod from the world body of cricket. “…we don’t know how infected the ball is going to get and we don’t know if it’s going to be allowed. But it’s absolutely a consideration. Everything is on the table at the moment, everything is being considered.”
Cricket Australia educating cricketers
Meanwhile, the Cricket Committee set by the International Cricket Council came up with a set of recommendations including the ban of using saliva to shine the ball. Since other nations will play before Australia once the game resumes, Cricket Australia will get an idea of the measures being taken as prevention.
Kountouris said, “From an Australian cricket perspective, other countries are probably going to play before us. We’ve got a chance to work with the ICC and other countries to see what they come up with and how it works for them. We’ll obviously take whatever steps we need to do to make sure we lower the risk.”
He is presently educating the cricketers on the new training guidelines and said that it would take time and they would have to give up some of their habits. “It’s going to be a tough habit to break. Some people are used to licking their fingers before they grab the ball, they’re used to shining the ball. It’s going to be a steep learning curve and hopefully, we’ve got some time to practice that sort of stuff.
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