As ICC’s Cricket Committee recommended to ban saliva to make the cricket ball shine, Australian pacer Pat Cummins has suggested that bowlers should be allowed to use artificial substances. Shining the ball is a major thing for bowlers in trying to extract some swing from the match.
As the game starts swaying in favour of batsmen by each passing day, bowlers have to try everything they can to trouble the batsmen. “If we remove saliva, we have to have another option. Sweat’s not bad, but I think we need something more than that, ideally. Whatever that is, wax or I don’t know what,” cricket.com.au quoted Cummins as saying.
“If that’s what that science is telling us, that it’s high risk using saliva … as long as we’re keeping other options open, whether that’s sweat or something artificial,” he added. Cricket Australia’s head of science and medicine has also said that disinfecting the ball during a match is into consideration.