Cricket Australia to seek ICC’s permission for use of disinfectants on match balls

As the coronavirus-induced pandemic took over the world and put sports on a standstill, all cricket boards have been considering ideas to combat the unprecedented circumstances. Most recently, the ICC considered the ruling out of usage of saliva for ball shining. On Tuesday, the ICC Cricket Committee announced that they would be allowing the use of sweat to shine balls. In this regard, the Cricket Australia board came up with an idea of its own. In order to reduce the health risk to players when play resumes, Cricket Australia considered the idea of using disinfectants on match balls.

According to the board’s Sports Science and Sports Medicine Manager Alex Kountouris, they have ideated a set of overall guidelines for players to safely return to training though competitive cricket is likely to be played only later this year. However, CA is still awaiting the ICC’s permission on this. Kountouris revealed that testing will soon begin on whether disinfecting the ball during a match will also be an effective way to minimise the health risks.

“Disinfecting the ball is a consideration....we’d have to speak to the ICC and get permission, there’s a lot of things (to consider). And whether it’s effective or not. The ball being leather, it’s harder to disinfect because it’s got little nooks and crevasses....we don’t know how infected the ball is going to get and we don’t know if it’s going to be allowed. But it’s absolutely a consideration. Everything is on the table at the moment, everything is being considered,” Koumtoris was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Kountouris further stated that since England is expected to play before Australia, that latter will have an understanding of the results of the measures being taken before implementing them in Australia.

“From an Australian cricket perspective, other countries are probably going to play before us. We’ve got a chance to work with the ICC and other countries to see what they come up with and how it works for them. We’ll obviously take whatever steps we need to do to make sure we lower the risk,” he added.