Australia considers ball disinfection to reduce health risks

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Cricket Australia (CA) is exploring the possibility of disinfecting the ball during matches to minimize risks to players’ health during the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of its medical team said on Wednesday.

The health of players is a major concern as the game seeks to return following the coronavirus shutdown and the International Cricket Council’s cricket committee has recommended a ban on smearing the ball with saliva.

“Sanitizing the ball is a consideration,” Alex Kountouris, head of sports science and sports medicine, said in a video conference.

“We don’t know the impact on the ball because we haven’t tested it. Obviously we would have to test it, we would have to talk to the ICC and get authorization…”

“As the ball is made of leather, it is more difficult to disinfect because it has small corners and crevices.

“So we don’t know how effective it’s going to be, we don’t know how infected the ball is going to be 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.”

Kountouris said the proposed ban on shining the ball with saliva would be difficult for players to get used to.

“Some people have the habit of licking their fingers before grabbing the ball. People are used to licking the ball with their fingers… there will be mistakes at some point,” he said. he adds.

“I guess we’re going to take a common-sense approach and understand that people make mistakes and things won’t be perfect.”

(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Peter Rutherford)