First Instance Of Ball Sanitise In Test Match After Dom Sibley Uses Saliva To Shine The Ball

Umpire Micheal Gough spotted the England opener applying saliva on the ball and quickly used a sanitised tissue to wipe the ball clean on both sides and sanitise

Photo: Twitter

The new no-saliva rule was always going to be difficult --- on the bowlers who struggled with lack of swing and also on the fielders in remembering to curb their instincts while shining the ball.

Sunday night saw England's Dom Sibley being the first cricketer to be warned by the umpires under the new no-saliva rule after he accidentally used saliva on the ball. The incident happened during the 41st over of West Indies first innings.

Umpire Micheal Gough spotted the England opener applying saliva on the ball and quickly used a sanitised tissue to wipe the ball clean on both sides and sanitise the fielder's hands.

As per the new rules teams are given a warning and going further a second offence would attract a five-run penalty. This is the first series to be played under the new rules forced by the Covid pandemic and players from across the world have admitted that it will be difficult to instantly stop putting saliva on the ball.

England captain Joe Root had earlier said the saliva ban won't affect cricket in England.

"Don't think it would change too much in England," said Root on Sony Ten Pit Stop which was aired on the network's Facebook page.

"It depends on the conditions. There has not been too much cricket played so the squares and the outfield will be really lush so the damage to the Duke ball really doesn't take effect until the 40th or 50th over if that is the case so there should be enough swing. They normally stay hard longer than the Kookaburra or the SG balls.

"So I can't see it having as much of an impact especially at the start of the summer. Ultimately it's going to be the same for both sides and it has to be managed by both teams."