David Warner against saliva-ban for shining the ball

Melbourne, April 30: Australia opener David Warner has wade into the debate of using saliva for shining the cricket ball amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, saying that traditional practice has been going around for "hundreds of years" and it should be continued with.

"You're sharing changerooms and you're sharing everything else, I don't see why you have to change that," Warner told cricket.com.au.

"It's been going around for hundreds of years now, I can't recall anyone that's got sick by doing that.

"If you're going to contract a bug, I don't think it'd necessarily be just from that.

"I'm not too sure but it's not my place to comment on whether or not we should or shouldn't (use saliva to shine the ball). It's up to the ICC and the governing bodies to decide," he added.

Cricket, when it gets going again after the COVID-19 pandemic, is supposed to resume with all the necessary precautions in order to save players from getting the virus. And the ICC is said to be pondering over ways to maintain the condition of the ball and keep the bowlers in the game while legalising usage of foreign substances.

It has been reported by ESPNcricinfo that officials are considering the use of artificial substances to shine the ball in order to keep the players away from using saliva.

"The problem posed by the use of saliva to polish the ball is understood to be among the items raised by the ICC's medical committee to be addressed before cricket can resume, meaning that lateral thinking is required to allow bowlers and teams to continue to find effective ways to shine the ball to help encourage conventional or reverse swing," the report stated.

Earlier, West Indies great Michael Holding had also questioned the suggestions of legalising ball-tampering as a precautionary measure in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.

Holding said there is 'no logic' behind the reported move as players will anyway be playing the game in a safe environment and use of saliva on the ball shouldn't be an issue.