- Molly O’Callaghan, a 19-year-old swimmer from Australia, etched her name in the annals of swimming history with a remarkable performance in the Women’s 200m Freestyle event
- Akshay Bhatia, 21, Wins his First PGA Tour Title at the Barracuda Championship
- Bruno Fernandes Replaces Harry Maguire as New Man Utd Captain
- Lionel Messi Surprises Teammate in group chat ahead of Grand Unveiling
- Man Utd Sign Keeper Andre Onana from Inter
No to saliva, yes to sweat: ICC set to impose rules pertaining to match-ball
- Updated: May 19, 2020
- 772
On Monday, the ICC Cricket Committee headed by Anil Kumble banned saliva use to shine the ball. Also, non-neutral umpires made a coronavirus-forced return for all international matches.
Saliva ban
Henceforth, players would be barred from using saliva to shine the ball. The decision has been taken today, as the Kumble-led Cricket Committee had a meeting via conference call that addressed issues like maintaining the condition of the match ball.
Reason
The ICC says changes to regulations have been brought in to “to mitigate the risks posed by the COVID-19 virus and protect the safety of players and match officials”. With regards to the saliva ban, the Cricket Committee acted on ICC Medical Advisory Committee chair Dr. Peter Harcourt’s advice. The regulation to ban saliva to shine the ball has been put in place because spitting on the ball elevates the risk of virus transmission. The World Health Organization (WHO) advisory says: “COVID-19 virus is primarily transmitted between people through respiratory droplets and contact routes.” The ICC Cricket Committee unanimously agreed to enforce the ban.
Non-neutral umpires and match referees
Since 2002, two neutral umpires from the ICC Elite Panel conducted the on-field proceedings in Tests. Third umpire, too, was an ICC appointee, while the fourth umpire came from the host cricket board. For ODIs, one on-field umpire and the third umpire were from the ICC panel, while for T20 internationals, all four umpires came from the host board. The ICC appointed neutral match referees across formats. Following the regulation change today, international matches can go ahead with all non-neutral match officials. For example, if the West Indies tour England in July for a three-Test series, the matches will be officiated by local umpires. The ICC, though, says this is a short-term measure because of the COVID-19 crisis.
Reason
The Cricket Committee has recommended the change keeping an eye on international travel restrictions, closed borders and mandatory quarantine periods. The ICC will continue to appoint match officials from “local Elite and International Panel referees and umpires”. Countries with no Elite Panel match officials will see “the best local International Panel match officials” are appointed.
Additional review
As a back-up, the Cricket Committee has recommended that “an additional DRS review per team per innings is introduced” across formats as an interim measure. All recommendations of the Cricket Committee will be presented before the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee in early June for approval.
“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,” Kumble said.
Source: Indianexpress
Related Posts
About admin
