Cricket Australia imposes stricter rules on use of sweat for England series

Cricket Australia has restricted its players from using sweat from their head, face, and neck to shine the cricket ball in their upcoming series against England. While the ICC has banned saliva but has given a pass for players to use sweat to shine the cricket ball, it looks like CA wants to eliminate even the minutest of possibilities of spreading COVID-19. The Saliva ban itself had split opinions across the cricketing world, with many bowlers fearing that the move would skew the balance of the game further towards the batsmen.

However, Australia’s pace spearhead and former RCB fast bowler Mitchell Starc feels that the ban would not make much of a difference in white-ball cricket. "It's probably not something that's too relevant in white-ball cricket. Once that new ball starts to go, you're trying to keep it dry anyway. It's more of a question for red-ball cricket," Starc said. “No doubt we'll find out what it's like in these practice games and if we need to revisit some planning around it, I'm sure we'll have a chat before the series gets underway," he added.

England fast bowlers resorted to using sweat from their backs and their foreheads during their series against West Indies and Pakistan, and Starc feels there might be scope to replicate that. "I think we saw a bit during that England (Test) series, Jofra (Archer) using some sweat off his back and that sort of thing. If the world stays as it is for a little while, those restrictions will still be there. That saliva one will probably be around for a lot longer anyway," Starc said.

"It's one for the red-ball team to talk about when we get to that point, but at the moment we're pretty good," said an unconcerned Starc.

[PTI inputs]