Australian seamer Josh Hazlewood has voiced his concerns about the possibility of ball shining being temporarily banned when professional cricket eventually resumes.
As general hygiene has come under greater scrutiny as countries around the world battle against the coronavirus pandemic, the established practice of shining the ball in order to generate movement in the air might be under threat once it is considered safe to stage games of professional cricket again.
While Hazlewood is less concerned about the effects of banning ball shining in white-ball cricket, where the ball tends to move in the air less anyway, he is wary of how a ban on ball shining would affect Test cricket.
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“I think the white ball would be fine, [but] Test cricket would be very hard,” said Hazlewood. “Bowlers rely on any sort of sideways movement in the air. If you didn’t maintain the ball at all for 80 overs it would be quite easy to bat after that initial shine has gone.
“Whether you use saliva or sweat, maybe one person can do it. I’m not sure. It’s something that will have to be talked about when we get back out there and hopefully come up with a solution.”
