On the odd occasion that one was at home watching Live cricket on the box, my grandmother would be aghast each time she saw a player using saliva on the red cherry! "Haven't their parents taught them any basic hygiene!" would be her comment in utter disgust.
Seems ICC has taken those remarks from the 1980s rather seriously, having announced its intention to ban the use of natural substances like saliva and sweat to polish the cricket ball. Instead it is mulling the option of allowing artificial substances to keep the ball nice and shiny!
Hopefully, the move was only a knee-jerk reaction to the current Covid-19 crisis and not something the administrators would look to implement seriously, my late gandmom's disgust notwithstanding!
Most players have come out against the use of artificial substances like oil or grease on the cricket ball for the simple reason that it would bring a sheen to the leather alright but ruin the ball pretty quickly. Reason is fairly straightforward. A quality cricket ball is made of leather as its outer covering and, being of natural origin, it needs regular maintenance. Leather needs regular doses of salt to keep it from going soft and limp, something neither bowlers not batsmen like!
Sound of a hard leather ball hitting the willow can send aficionados into ecstasy!
A cricket ball needs to be maintained. And as several former and current players have revealed, only certain members of a team are given the responsibility of shining the ball. Mind you, shining a cricket ball is much more scientific than merely rubbing it on the trouser or shirt. It requires great attention to detail with application of the right amount bodily excretions to keep the shine on one side while also making the shiny side heavier and hence off balance!
While salt helps to keep the leather firm, its a combination of sweat (salt) and saliva that helps bring reverse swing into play! Its a genuine weapon in the armoury for medium pace bowlers ... lingering question always in any big game is how long will it take before the ball starts reversing? Meaning how much time would the fielding side need to get the ball into the right state for it to defy the normal laws of motion as taught in high school physics!
Already the use of a different ball at each end in the 50-over one-day internationals has all but taken reverse swing out of the equation since the ball hardly gets scuffed enough.
Now adding artificial substances and totally banning sweat and saliva would leave the red cherry even more vulnerable since leather would go limp with the amount of battering a cricket ball must take hitting ground and wood with such regularity!
Covid-19 has come and will go away as well. Don't let a passing threat ruin the game of cricket forever.
Seems ICC has taken those remarks from the 1980s rather seriously, having announced its intention to ban the use of natural substances like saliva and sweat to polish the cricket ball. Instead it is mulling the option of allowing artificial substances to keep the ball nice and shiny!
Hopefully, the move was only a knee-jerk reaction to the current Covid-19 crisis and not something the administrators would look to implement seriously, my late gandmom's disgust notwithstanding!
Most players have come out against the use of artificial substances like oil or grease on the cricket ball for the simple reason that it would bring a sheen to the leather alright but ruin the ball pretty quickly. Reason is fairly straightforward. A quality cricket ball is made of leather as its outer covering and, being of natural origin, it needs regular maintenance. Leather needs regular doses of salt to keep it from going soft and limp, something neither bowlers not batsmen like!
Sound of a hard leather ball hitting the willow can send aficionados into ecstasy!
A cricket ball needs to be maintained. And as several former and current players have revealed, only certain members of a team are given the responsibility of shining the ball. Mind you, shining a cricket ball is much more scientific than merely rubbing it on the trouser or shirt. It requires great attention to detail with application of the right amount bodily excretions to keep the shine on one side while also making the shiny side heavier and hence off balance!
While salt helps to keep the leather firm, its a combination of sweat (salt) and saliva that helps bring reverse swing into play! Its a genuine weapon in the armoury for medium pace bowlers ... lingering question always in any big game is how long will it take before the ball starts reversing? Meaning how much time would the fielding side need to get the ball into the right state for it to defy the normal laws of motion as taught in high school physics!
Already the use of a different ball at each end in the 50-over one-day internationals has all but taken reverse swing out of the equation since the ball hardly gets scuffed enough.
Now adding artificial substances and totally banning sweat and saliva would leave the red cherry even more vulnerable since leather would go limp with the amount of battering a cricket ball must take hitting ground and wood with such regularity!
Covid-19 has come and will go away as well. Don't let a passing threat ruin the game of cricket forever.
Red cheery and saliva ....wow.
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