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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.

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.

Saliva shining the ball….Have we seen the last of it?

Are you not allowed to apply saliva to the ball now without it being considered ball tampering? So if for health reasons you can no longer apply saliva to the ball you will either have to ban the practice or allowed a manufactured substitute. If we can manufacture a substitute based on what contained in a particular saliva which would be close if not identical to the real thing, how could that be considered ball tampering.