CHENNAI: The pandemic has made ICC deliberate on the use of artificial substances instead of saliva for helping pacers get swing while bowling.
If approved, the proposal might change bowlers’ rituals forever. But it will have least impact as far as the manufacturing of balls is concerned. Sanspareils Greenlands, the maker of SG balls, believes that it will need only three weeks to come up with new balls if laws are amended.
“The effect of saliva is the shine that it creates,” said SG’s marketing and sales director Paras Anand. “The whole idea is to get shine on one side. Rest we can tell in more detail once the lockdown ends, after trials. It will take three weeks to make minor alterations and trials for us to be completely ready for production. (Only) alterations will be amount of lacquer used or leather waxing.”
In its bid to avoid the dangers of rubbing saliva on the ball, ICC had during its recent CEC meeting considered the use of artificial substances like wax or shoe polish. But Anand believes the use of foreign substances will not necessitate a big change in manufacturing. “There will be no change in coating. Similarly, the hide used to manufacture the balls will also remain the same.”
Speaking on the amount of swing the ball will get when bowlers will use artificial substances, Anand said, “It will depend on the quantity allowed by umpires.” The use of foreign substances is tantamount to ball-tampering under the current set of laws, but the ICC proposal says that application of foreign substances on the ball will be done under the strict supervision of umpires.
SG units in Meerut were shut down on March 21, complying with directives from the Uttar Pradesh government. Anand admitted that sports-equipment manufacturers and retailers will incur huge losses. “If normalcy returns in three months, the loss will be around 20 per cent of annual turnover. It will be around 30 if it takes six months, and 40 to 50 per cent if it’s nine months.”