Sweat Good, Spit Bad!

ICC set to ban use of saliva to shine cricket balls

BBCSport

Players are likely to be banned from using saliva to shine the ball by the International Cricket Council when the sport resumes after the coronavirus pandemic, but the application of sweat will still be allowed.

The governing body's cricket committee heard medical advice that suggests it is highly unlikely coronavirus can be transmitted through sweat, but there is an elevated risk through saliva.

The recommendations, which also suggest the use of home umpires, will be presented for approval in early June.

If the use of home umpires - as opposed to neutrals - is passed, the the ICC may also allow one additional DRS review per team per innings as "an interim measure".

"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 while protecting everyone involved," said ICC cricket committee chair Anil Kumble.

There will be no cricket in the UK until at least 1 July, but England's men's team have returned to individual training this week with the first Test of the summer potentially coming behind closed doors against West Indies on 8 July.

No IPL could cost BCCI $A822m.


Rasesh Mandani.
Hindustan Times.
Sunday, 17 May 2020.
PTG 3126-15468.



It is the world’s richest cricket board, but even the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) concedes that the Covid-19 pandemic could take a toll on its finances. The organisation’s top management committee discussed the potential financial hit it faces due to a range of cancelled matches and event at a meeting held in Mumbai last week.

The Indian team’s kit sponsorship contract will end in September, and consideration was given as to whether it would be the right time to approach the market with a new tender. “One option is to negotiate with ‘Nike', or issue fresh tenders”, an official said. Nike’s four-year deal with BCCI is worth 3.7 billion Rupees ($A76m, £UK40m), or approximately 8.7 million Rupees ($A178,850, £UK94,740), per match. While all earlier deals, be it media, title or jersey rights, saw an incremental increase, companies are now holding on to cash in times of distress. That means BCCI will need to get its strategy spot on.

The Indian board has also approached the Indian government's finance ministry for income-tax exemptions on revenue derived from hosting International Cricket Council (ICC) world events. India is currently due to host the men’s T20 World Cup in 2021 and the 50-over World Cup in 2023 (PTG 3125 above). The ICC has asked the BCCI to bear the tax liabilities for the two mega events, after failing to get exemption for the 2016 T20 World Cup which it hosted. “Let’s see what the government decides. This is not on their priority list right now”, the official said. The dispute from the 2016 T20 World Cup, amounting to $US23.7m ($A37m, £UK19.6m ) has been referred to ICC’s dispute resolution committee.

BCCI management committee members were informed that not staging Indian Premier League (IPL) this year would lead to a revenue loss of 40 billion Rupees ($A822m, £UK4336m). The organisation continues efforts to find a window for staging the postponed IPL this year, but that would depend on government directives, taking into account the health situation in the country. “We will have to examine our financial situation, see how much money we have and take a call. Not hosting IPL will cause very significant losses. If it takes place, we won’t have to go in for pay cuts, we’ll manage things”, said BCCI president Sourav Ganguly.

India to allow sport behind closed doors.
Nagraj Gollapudi.
Cricinfo.
Monday, 18 May 2020.
PTG 3126-15469.

On Sunday, the Indian government relaxed restrictions on sporting events, allowing them to resume behind closed doors in the country, and as far as cricket is concerned, it means the Indian Premier League could take place in 2020. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) welcomed the government's decision, but said it was premature to think about the IPL at this point. The IPL, though, can take place subject to travel restrictions being eased and a window being found for the tournament, which the BCCI postponed indefinitely in April due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

While extending the countrywide lockdown by a further two weeks until May 31, in a directive listing activities that would continue to be prohibited or allowed, the Indian government said: "Sports complexes and stadia will be permitted to open; however, spectators will not be allowed”. To further emphasise the point that gatherings of all kind would not be allowed, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said: "All social/political/sports/entertainment/academic/culturual/religious functions/other gatherings and large congreagtions" will continue to remain prohibited. All non-essential domestic and international air travel also remains prohibited.

Arun Dhumal, the BCCI treasurer, said that for cricket activities to resume, travel restrictions within the country would need to be eased. "Taking into the account the restrictions on air travel and movement of people till May 31, the BCCI will wait further before organising a skill-based training camp for its contracted players”, said Dhumal in a media statement issued by the BCCI. "The board reiterates that the safety and well-being of its athletes and support staff is paramount and will not rush into any decision that can hamper or jeopardise India's efforts in containing the spread of the virus”.

Asked whether the BCCI would now start thinking about conducting the IPL later this year, Dhumal said it was too early to think about the tournament. He said a window would first need to open up in the cricket calendar in addition to governments world-wide allowing international travel so that overseas players' participation could be guaranteed. The IPL franchises concur with the BCCI's cautious optimism. One franchise chief executive said the government's decision today would "have an impact" on the BCCI, which can now, he said, "present a case to have the IPL”.

Overall, cricket will take a while to resume locally with various prominent states, including Maharashtra and Karnataka, still under complete lockdown. Although the BCCI has discussed conducting individual training programs wherever possible once travel restrictions are loosened, some of the stadiums have been handed to local governments to be utilised as quarantine centres for those infected by the coronavirus.

CA-NZC chiefs plan to seize on travel ‘bubble' to restart game.

Chris Barrett.
Sydney Morning Herald.
Wednesday, 13 May 2020.
PTG 3121-15439.

Australia and New Zealand are in talks about taking advantage of a travel bubble and rebooting the international game with a trans-Tasman rivalry. The news comes as Cricket Australia’s (CA) battle to get NSW and Queensland to agree to have grants from head office slashed took another twist, with Western Australia confirming it would accept the cut if the other state associations signed up too (PTG 3120-15434, 12 May 2020).

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive David White said on Tuesday he was in talks with CA counterpart Kevin Roberts about matches between Australia and the Black Caps being added to the calendar when travel restrictions between the countries ease. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern last week agreed to pursue the plan for a quarantine-free travel zone “as part of the road back” from the Covid-19 lockdown.

Australia’s players will be starved of cricket over winter, with the Indian Premier League and a Test tour of Bangladesh abandoned, a limited-overs tour of England in July almost certain to follow suit, the Hundred in England cancelled and the County Championship held up indefinitely. The next matches scheduled in Australia are against Zimbabwe in the Top End in August but they are far from certain to go ahead. The same applies to the Twenty20 World Cup in October-November.

The answer may be for Australia and New Zealand to kickstart the international game with trans-Tasman matches between their men’s and women’s teams. The final two matches of a three-game men’s One Day International series between the teams were called off in March after the first had been played behind closed doors at the Sydney Cricket Ground. “I’ve talked to Kevin Roberts about that”, White said. “We’ve been having regular conversations with Cricket Australia looking at all different kinds of opportunities".

“A Tasman bubble would be terrific if it did eventuate ... it would present some opportunities going forward. But I think the key is to keep an open mind and be flexible so if opportunities do arise we can take them. We haven’t talked specifics really. What we have talked about is conceptually the possibility of playing each other and that’s where we are at the moment. While they’re working closely on scheduling, the two organisations have reacted differently to the global crisis".

There is uncertainty over the Kiwis’ home international summer – Pakistan and West Indies are due there for Tests and Sri Lanka in the shorter form - but NZC wants to make sure its domestic and pathway programs remain untouched. “We are slightly fortunate in that we are kind of small but we will be impacted as well, no doubt about that”, White said. “What we will do, though, is play the full season of domestic first-class cricket, men’s and women’s. We’re committed to that and it’s very important that we do that. We’ve also committed the same level of financial support to the community game as we did this year. If there is any cost cutting to go ahead, we’ll probably be doing that at head office”.

Meanwhile, the boards of NSW and Queensland were meeting separately on Tuesday night as they continue to hold out against CA’s push for them to accept 25 per cent cuts under bilateral agreements with the governing body. Both states believe CA has been alarmist in forecasting a bleak financial outlook for the game and standing down most of its staff on 20 per cent pay. While the other states have signed on, it emerged on Tuesday that Western Australia had done so “subject to all states agreeing”. WACA chairman Terry Waldron said he thought what CA had proposed was fair and reasonable but “we just didn’t want to be left out on our own”. “As long as the deals are somewhat similar, then we’re happy”, he said.

Elsewhere, there is confusion about the delayed confirmation of state, men’s and women’s Big Bash League contracts for the 2020-21 season. The national contract lists were announced on April 30 but a contracting embargo has remained in place for states and franchises, with players allowed to sign only non-binding agreements. “I think it's probably frustrating for some of the state guys in particular”, said Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who is set to return to NSW from South Australia. “I was named in the Cricket Australia contract list, so for someone like me it's not too bad. I’ve got it easy compared to some of the guys who are trying to get long-term deals with states and things like that”.
What's Needed to Get That Thwack Back


BBCSport


The 2020 county cricket season should now be entering its fourth week, but the coronavirus pandemic has meant we have yet to hear the thwack of leather on willow.


There will be no play until 1 July at the earliest, and The Hundred - the England and Wales Cricket Board's new competition - has already been put back until 2021.


If and when the season gets under way, it will be a very different experience for everyone concerned, with games seemingly certain to be played behind closed doors.


BBC Look East spoke to Northamptonshire's club doctor, Professor Bill Ribbans, about the challenges cricket faces if there is going to be any play this summer.
Training



"It'll almost certainly start off with just individuals coming to the ground and training alone," said Ribbans.


"Players will not be able to use showers and will have to come to training in their kit and get showered and changed when they return home.


"We'll then move towards very small groups and then finally when we get the go ahead it'll come back to full team training.


"It'll be very much a staged response. We hope, as that takes place, the national situation with respect to the pandemic will be improving all the time and the testing facilities will also improve to allow us to be as safe as possible for our players and all our staff."
Testing



The England and Wales Cricket Board and the 18 first-class counties are currently trying to decide how often players will need to be tested to ensure they do not have Covid-19.


"I think the Premier League are talking about every five days may be safe, and we're looking at the Bundesliga in Germany," said Ribbans.


At the moment tests cost between £100 and £150 each, so a 30-man squad of players, coaches, physios and other staff could mean expenditure running into tens of thousands of pounds for each club - so there must be a guarantee games will be played.


"In professional sport, where you've got finances involved, right from the outset when people start training, you need to know there's going to be a product to generate revenue," explained the professor.


"We're not going to have a sport with spectators, it's going to be closed competition, so the only revenues are television.


"We need to know that the T20 Blast is going to happen, let's say at the end of August, and then you've got to work backwards."

Making facilities safe

Clubs will not be using any indoor facilities for practice but must maintain an intensive cleaning regimen around their grounds.

"It'll be all outdoor, and any areas that we do need we need to make sure they're de-cluttered as we know that the virus can sit on surfaces." said Ribbans, who is also a consultant in trauma and orthopaedic surgery and a professor of sports medicine.

"We need to have PPE available for staff treating any players who have any injuries - we're sourcing this locally and the ECB has also indicated that they would be giving us some help in that respect as well."

So once a club has got its bio-security measures in place, its players fit and all have tested negative for coronavirus, how do they go about staging matches?

"The toss will have to be done socially distanced," said Ribbans.

"There isn't any reason why the umpire can't go out and liaise with the captains behind the boundary ropes socially distanced from each other."

The pre-match toss-up was due to return in the County Championship this summer after not being mandatory for the past four seasons, with away sides given the option of bowling first without need for one.

Meanwhile, scorers from each club, who traditionally sit next to one another, would have to be kept apart, and the days of the ball being returned to the bowler via the hands of half the team are gone, for now at least.

"I imagine we'll be asking for the wicketkeeper to send it straight back to the bowler to minimise the number of hands that it goes through," he added.

Methods of shining the ball - key to a bowler getting it to swing - will also have to change.

"I'm absolutely sure that the players are going to be told that they cannot use saliva and they cannot use sweat," said Ribbans.

"I know there is a company looking at producing a wax that might be used, which would be equivalent to keep one side of the ball shiny, so that's one option."

Players' reservations

Every player's personal circumstances will be different - some may have vulnerable people in their household and will be reluctant to return to training, while others may have no such concerns.

"I feel that the adoption of the regulations that we will have will make the sport hopefully as safe as it can possibly be, and in many respects safer than many other activities that sports players may be doing during their normal day-to-day activities," said Ribbans.

"But we can never ever say it will be 100% safe."

He believes that no player should be forced to return to training and matches if they do not feel comfortable.

"In my personal view, if the player has a real genuine reason for not wanting to come back into playing until certain conditions have been met then I do think we have to honour that," he added.

Kookaburra develop wax applicator to shine cricket balls during coronavirus pandemic

BBCSport

A leading Australia sports manufacturer has developed a wax applicator to allow cricket balls to be shined without sweat or saliva.

Concerns have been raised over using bodily fluids to polish the ball during the coronavirus pandemic.

Under cricket's laws, players cannot apply artificial substances to the ball, but umpires could oversee the process if changes are required.

"It may not be something we need to make forever," Kookaburra said.

The product has yet to be tested in match conditions and can be used on both red and white balls.

Any changes would need to be approved by the International Cricket Council.

Players shine one side of a new cricket ball while the opposite is left to deteriorate through natural wear and tear. This process helps bowlers swing the ball in the air.

Kookaburra says a pocket-sized sponge would be used to apply a thin layer of wax to the ball.

"It's designed to get cricket back and give administrators time to make decisions," a statement read.

"Nobody was calling out for this 12 months ago so maybe it is more of an interim measure."

Kookaburra balls are used in all limited-overs cricket. England, Ireland and West Indies use Dukes for their Test balls, while India uses SG.

There will be no cricket in England and Wales until at least 1 July because of the ongoing crisis.