Cricket Committee of the International Cricket Council has recommended a complete ban on use of saliva for shining the ball during matches. The Anil Kumble-led panel has also recommends non-neutral match officials for all international matches.
The ICC Cricket Committee on Monday recommended changes to ICC regulations to mitigate the risks posed by the COVID-19 virus, and protect the safety of players and match officials.
The Committee, chaired by Anil Kumble, concluded a conference call convened to specifically address issues related to COVID-19, including maintaining the condition of the match ball and the appointment of non-neutral umpires and referees to international cricket. The recommendations of the Cricket Committee will now be presented to the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee in early June for approval.
Match Ball
The ICC Cricket Committee heard from the Chair of the ICC Medical Advisory Committee Dr Peter Harcourt regarding the elevated risk of the transmission of the virus through saliva, and unanimously agreed to recommend that the use of saliva to polish the ball be prohibited.
The Committee also noted the medical advice that it is highly unlikely that the virus can be transmitted through sweat and saw no need to prohibit the use of sweat to polish the ball whilst recommending that enhanced hygiene measures are implemented on and around the playing field.
Local Match Officials in short term
Since 2002, it was mandatory to have an ICC match referee for all the international matches. In Tests, two field umpires and the third umpire were non-neutral from ICC and the 4th umpire is to be from the host nation. For ICC, it is mandatory to have the first and the third or TV umpire from the ICC while the host nation would have local officials and the second and the fourth umpire. In T20 Internationals, however, all the four umpires could be local officials from the host nation.
Given the challenges of international travel with borders being closed, limited commercial flights and mandatory quarantine periods, the Committee recommended that local match officials be appointed in the short-term.
The appointments will continue to be made via the ICC from local Elite and International Panel referees and umpires. Where there are no Elite Panel match officials in the country, the best local International Panel match officials will be appointed.
The Committee also recommended that the use of technology is increased to support the appointments of a wider pool of umpires from around the world and has proposed an additional DRS review per team per innings is introduced in each format as an interim measure.
ICC Cricket Committee Chair Anil Kumble said: “We are living through extraordinary times and the recommendations the Committee have made today are interim measures to enable us to safely resume cricket in a way that preserves the essence of our game whilst protecting everyone involved.”