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Australia’s top fast bowler Pat Cummins expressed his concern over the possible talks regarding a ban on using sweat and saliva on cricket balls once sporting action resumes after the lockdown. Emphasizing the significance of the shining ball, the 27-year-old was completely against it.

“I’m thinking that if we’re in a position where we’re really worried about passing on the coronavirus if we’re going to be that careful that we can’t shine the ball, we can’t get close to teammates, we can’t play the game as we normally would be, I don’t think we’d be playing in the first place,” Cummins expressed his thoughts on the Kolkata Knight Riders blog.

Cummins was absolutely correct on his part as getting the ball to shine is one of the least recognized but a very important part of the game, especially for a bowler. The Australian pace spearhead that a ban would still not lessen the risk of passing on the infection. Shining has been one of the oldest traditions of the game and plays a huge role in getting the ball swing.

“Whether it’s saliva or something else, as long as we’re still allowed to shine up the ball to make sure it keeps swinging. As a fast bowler, you’ve got to be able to shine the ball. Why everyone loves Test cricket is because there is so much art to it. If you can’t shine the ball, that takes away the swing bowling, that takes away the reverse swing bowling,” he added.

Australia has almost begun with the flattening of the COVID-19 curve and most of the states are already planning to release lockdown restrictions in the coming weeks. This is already a huge news for the sports sector who can now plan about the resumption of the training sooner than later.

Cricket Australia’s head of sports science, Alex Kountouris who once served as the physiotherapist of the Australian men’s team, stated that the board had called for restricting ball-shining during practice sessions but also added that they would wait for an official decision from the ICC.

featured image credits- Wide World of Sports- Nine