Saliva Ban in Cricket to COVID Substitutes, ICC Confirms Interim Changes in Playing Conditions Amid Coronavirus Crisis

As coronavirus restrictions have been eased in several countries, international cricket is gearing up for a return and the International Cricket Council has imposed some regulations keeping in mind the health of everyone involved. In addition to the saliva ban and allowing home umpires in international series, ICC has made some additional changes regarding the use of substitutes during matches. Bangladesh’s Tour of Sri Lanka 2020 Unlikely to Happen As per Schedule After Senior Players Show Reluctance.

In order to minimize the risk of COVID-19 during games and to protect the safety of players and match officials, the Anil Kumble-led committee has sanctioned some additional changes to the ICC’s playing regulations. West Indies Cricket Team Reaches England for Test Series, ECB Welcomes Players ; Says 'Delighted to Have You Here'.

As per the statement released by the governing body, ‘Teams will be allowed to replace players displaying symptoms of COVID-19 during a Test match. In line with concussion replacements, the Match Referee will approve the nearest like-for-like replacement. However, this will not be applicable in ODI or T20I matches.’

Regarding the use of Saliva, ICC said ‘Players will not be permitted to use saliva to shine the ball. If a player does apply saliva to the ball, the umpires will manage the situation with some leniency during an initial period of adjustment for the players, but subsequent instances will result in the team receiving a warning. A team can be issued up to two warnings per innings but repeated use of saliva on the ball will result in a 5-run penalty to the batting side’

ICC also approved the use of non-neutral umpires for all formats. ‘The requirement to appoint neutral match officials will be temporarily removed from the playing conditions for all international formats owing to the current logistical challenges with international travel. The ICC will be able to appoint locally based match officials from the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Officials and the Emirates ICC International Panel of Match Officials.’ Read the statement.

An additional unsuccessful DRS review has also been permitted for each team in each innings of the match keeping in mind that less experienced umpires might be on duty at times. In addition, rules have been relaxed regarding the use of apparel logos. A logo, not exceeding 32 square inches in size, may be placed on the chest of the Test match shirt and sweater in addition to the three other logos allowed as per regulations.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 09, 2020 07:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).