Virus, saliva and dirty balls
Covid-19 has turned the world upside down. It has not spared sports either. The next Olympic Games have apparently gone the same way as Sri Lankan elections. Many international sports events have been postponed, indefinitely. Cricket fans are a disappointed lot. They wouldn’t have minded lockdowns if there had been live telecasts of cricket matches. But the good news is that the runaway virus is likely to put an end to an obnoxious practice among cricketers.
Time was when it was popularly thought that aristocrats couldn’t be wrong, and whatever they did was worthy of emulation though some thinkers such as Pareto despised aristocracy; he went so far as to declare, ‘History is the graveyard of aristocracies.’ But what is associated with aristocracy generally gains social acceptance. The origins of cricket are lost in the mists of time, but the general consensus is that it gained popularity when it became the game of the British aristocrats. Not all sports indulged in by aristocrats could be considered gentlemanly by any stretch of the imagination; hunting is a case in point. Strangely, they took a liking to a non-violent game like cricket.
The sobriquet cricket has earned as a gentleman’s game has remained undisputed for obvious reasons, but some despicable practices such as sledging, spot-fixing, bodyline bowling and excessive appealing have marred the game’s reputation to a considerable extent.
What cricketers do to the ball also makes one wonder if cricket has ceased to be played in a gentlemanly manner. It makes one’s gorge rise. It is not ball tampering that is on one’s mind; instead, it is that players use so much of saliva and sweat to shine the ball. Coronavirus has jolted the ball manufacturers into finding ways and means of helping shine the cowhide without saliva and sweat to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Kookaburra, the famous Australian cricket ball producer, is developing a wax applicator that will help shine the ball without using saliva and sweat, according to a report we publish today. It has done so in keeping with the guidelines issued by the Australian Institute of Sport, which has banned the practice of applying saliva and sweat on cricket balls. Kookaburra has said its new product is at a very early stage of development. A substitute for saliva and sweat should have been produced a long time ago!
Stomach-turning as the use of saliva and sweat to shine the cricket ball may be, it is the least of our worries where public health is concerned. Our problem is that Sri Lankans can’t keep saliva where it should be and have the bad habit of ejecting it in public places haphazardly. Betel chewers are the worst. It is said that Lee Kuan Yew used to take pride in the fact that he had stopped people from spitting on roads, in Singapore. Making Asians from doing so is no achievement. In this country, one has to avoid others’ spittle when one walks on roads.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, when he was the Defence Secretary, made Sri Lankans wear seatbelts and stop littering. It looks as though he now, as the President, had to stop them from spitting on roads to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
It has been reported that a private bus driver who spat through a window of his vehicle, at a bus station, in Kalutara, a few weeks ago, had to clean the place at the behest of the traffic police. Such stern action is called for to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which has already crippled the country. Spitting in public places must be stopped forthwith. If new laws are needed, let them be made.
Covid-19 has turned the world upside down. It has not spared sports either. The next Olympic Games have apparently gone the same way as Sri Lankan elections. Many international sports events have been postponed, indefinitely. Cricket fans are a disappointed lot. They wouldn’t have minded lockdowns if there had been live telecasts of cricket matches. But the good news is that the runaway virus is likely to put an end to an obnoxious practice among cricketers.
Time was when it was popularly thought that aristocrats couldn’t be wrong, and whatever they did was worthy of emulation though some thinkers such as Pareto despised aristocracy; he went so far as to declare, ‘History is the graveyard of aristocracies.’ But what is associated with aristocracy generally gains social acceptance. The origins of cricket are lost in the mists of time, but the general consensus is that it gained popularity when it became the game of the British aristocrats. Not all sports indulged in by aristocrats could be considered gentlemanly by any stretch of the imagination; hunting is a case in point. Strangely, they took a liking to a non-violent game like cricket.
The sobriquet cricket has earned as a gentleman’s game has remained undisputed for obvious reasons, but some despicable practices such as sledging, spot-fixing, bodyline bowling and excessive appealing have marred the game’s reputation to a considerable extent.
What cricketers do to the ball also makes one wonder if cricket has ceased to be played in a gentlemanly manner. It makes one’s gorge rise. It is not ball tampering that is on one’s mind; instead, it is that players use so much of saliva and sweat to shine the ball. Coronavirus has jolted the ball manufacturers into finding ways and means of helping shine the cowhide without saliva and sweat to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Kookaburra, the famous Australian cricket ball producer, is developing a wax applicator that will help shine the ball without using saliva and sweat, according to a report we publish today. It has done so in keeping with the guidelines issued by the Australian Institute of Sport, which has banned the practice of applying saliva and sweat on cricket balls. Kookaburra has said its new product is at a very early stage of development. A substitute for saliva and sweat should have been produced a long time ago!
Stomach-turning as the use of saliva and sweat to shine the cricket ball may be, it is the least of our worries where public health is concerned. Our problem is that Sri Lankans can’t keep saliva where it should be and have the bad habit of ejecting it in public places haphazardly. Betel chewers are the worst. It is said that Lee Kuan Yew used to take pride in the fact that he had stopped people from spitting on roads, in Singapore. Making Asians from doing so is no achievement. In this country, one has to avoid others’ spittle when one walks on roads.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, when he was the Defence Secretary, made Sri Lankans wear seatbelts and stop littering. It looks as though he now, as the President, had to stop them from spitting on roads to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
It has been reported that a private bus driver who spat through a window of his vehicle, at a bus station, in Kalutara, a few weeks ago, had to clean the place at the behest of the traffic police. Such stern action is called for to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which has already crippled the country. Spitting in public places must be stopped forthwith. If new laws are needed, let them be made.
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