Some players have supported the use of saliva on the ball while in hindsight most of them are against the latest rule introduced by the ICC, citing that it will be difficult for bowlers to generate movement especially in the longest format of the game.
The latest league which is grabbing the headlines is Vincy Premier League (VPL) which is a franchise-based tournament T10 tournament and is scheduled to start from May 22 in the Caribbean and it will be the first competition that will restrict the player to use saliva on the ball.
As cricket at all levels has been suspended due to ongoing pandemic and It will be played between 22-31 in the eastern Caribbean island country of St Vincent and Grenadines.
Kishore Shallow, the president of St Vincent and Grenadines Cricket Association quoted to ESPN Cricinfo “No player will be allowed to use saliva on the ball. Of course, we will have a different dedicated assigned space around the player’s pavilion for teams so that they are not necessarily crowded together. All teams would have their own space where they could practice physical distancing”.
As he further went to add that “What we have done to manage the risk and our plan is during matches we will ask spectators to practice physical and social distancing. So they will be seated a few seats apart. And because of time the matches are taking place, we do not anticipate massive crowd at the matches”.
As players are used to applying saliva to gain movement from the ball to make the ball shine, there have been wide reports that International Cricket Council is looking to apply this rule to ban the use of saliva in International matches which has faced several backlashes as the majority of players like David Warner, Josh Hazelwood have opposed that.
Vincy Premier League will have six teams participating in it and there are no restrictions as fans can come and watch matches. In a six-team tournament, 30 matches will be played and every 3 matches will be played and 72 players have been picked via a draft on May 11 among these players three players who have been picked are marquee West Indies cricketer.
