Coronavirus pandemic shines new light on cricket’s age-old ball shining methods

Current Sussex head coach Jason Gillespie has questioned whether the age-old practice of maintaining a cricket ball, typically achieved with saliva and sweat, can be sustainable once the sport resumes

The pandemic has changed many aspects of life and one of the most fundamental parts of cricket has now come under the microscope – the shining of the ball.

With the world now more germ conscious than ever, former Australia paceman and current Sussex head coach Jason Gillespie has questioned whether the age-old practice of maintaining a cricket ball, typically achieved with saliva and sweat, can be sustainable once the sport resumes.

Currently back in Australia after the postponement of the English county season, Gillespie on Sunday voiced what many had thought even before the pandemic – that the ritual of bowlers and fielders imparting saliva onto the ball was, when given some thought, actually “pretty gross”.

“I don’t think it’s a quirky question. It’s an actual genuine thing to be considered,” Gillespie said in a radio interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“I don’t think anything is off the table. It could be a point where at the end of each over, the umpires allow the players to shine the ball in front of them but you can only do it then.

Could shining the ball be banned? (Getty)

“I don’t know. Is it just sweat? Can you only use sweat? I don’t have an answer to that but it certainly will be a conversation that will be had. If you think about it, it is pretty gross.”

With some local cricket associations discouraging the use of saliva to shine the ball towards the end of the Australian season which finished last month, the question of banning the practice has also raised concerns for Australia paceman Josh Hazlewood, who said shining a Test ball “does a lot” for its longevity.

“I think with a white ball it would be fine,” he said on Monday in reference to limited-overs cricket.

“But in Test match cricket it (not shining the ball) is going to be very hard I think.

“Bowlers obviously rely on sideways movement in the air or off the wicket. If you didn’t maintain the ball for 80 overs, it’d become quite easy to bat after probably about 15 overs, after that initial shine has gone off the ball.”