The International Cricket Council (ICC) has released new guidelines as the cricket moves towards resumptions after being halted for more than 2 months due to a coronavirus outbreak. The international board in its ‘ICC back to cricket’ guidelines pointed out clearly that it is essential to ensure that all the safety guidelines are being seriously followed. COVID-19 pandemic has affected all the major leagues and sporting evenings across the world and the Indian Premier League (IPL) is perhaps one of the biggest cricket events postponed due to this outbreak.
“ICC Back to Cricket Guideline” is a detailed document formulated by the ICC Medical Advisory Committee at an international board meeting with member medical representatives and provides suggestions & guidance for the safe resumption of community cricket, domestic professional cricket, and international professional cricket. However, the international bodies didn’t mention anything about the resumption of the game in different countries of the world, rather it guides how the ICC members can resume the game in a manner that minimizes the transmission of coronavirus. Here’re some major changes that we may see in upcoming cricket events.
- Regular Hand Sanitizing After Contacting Ball
It’s weird because cricket is all about ball & bat and it will be time-consuming to sanitize hands after contacting the ball. And, while it is slightly tough to sanitize hands after each throw, it seems the ICC board will soon suggest ballers to wear hand gloves when handling the ball.
- No Loo or Shower Breaks
All the players are advised to minimize the spend-time in changing rooms, shower facilities and requested to proffer changing at home, rather at match or training venues. But, with the advent of the summer season in India and most countries, it will be tough to stay active and calm without showering after a game. Though changing at home instead of the ground and training avenues is a good idea, but the body didn’t guide how it will work.
- No Use of Saliva
Educating players about the upcoming changes in the game is what the ICC is looking for through the resumptions guidelines. “Players at all levels should be made aware that the India Cricket Council may ban the use of saliva in the future.” On the medical advice of the ICC medical team, the international body is expected to ban using saliva on the ball very shortly. Besides safety measures, the ban of saliva will affect the game so much as the bowlers may lack the pace in throw.
- No Sharing of Personal Equipment
The ICC is educating players about “On-fields behavior” including shared use of drink bottles, towels, sunglasses, cap, jumpers, etc. All these things fall under personal hygiene that the international body of ICC is educating players in their training. The sharing of personal equipment can lead to the risk of COVID-19 transmission and should be strongly discouraged. Also, the board has encouraged players to take responsibility for their items, rather than handing over any item to empires and teammates.
- No Celebration
The definition of cricket is going to be entirely changed for some crazy fans who feel so good when Kohli abuses on the ground, and of course, action-packed motion moves of other players after taking a wicket or completing a century. Cricket—the gentleman’s game—doesn’t like over-the-top celebrations, though. It also finds it hard to articulate why it doesn’t like such celebrations.
Apart from these major changes in the way cricket had been played for decades, “Social distancing is tough.” It’s no tough to follow social distancing on individual games but cannot be imagined in a team sport, like football and cricket. Football is also set to resume and the players are returning to the grounds for arena training. Here’s the list of the sporting events affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
For cricket’s return, the guideline says– “Review domestic playing conditions to minimize risks associated with playing during this CV-19 period.” Considering the following, the ICC body improves the rules for the safe management of ball, umpires are allowed to wear gloves when handling the ball, and social distancing is, of course, an essential part of the post-coronavirus cricket matches.
A ‘ready to play‘ approach should be adopted. Discourage the sharing of all equipment where possible. If it is required to ensure equipment is cleaned appropriately.” Though there is no sign of the audience-in-ground, but in case spectators are permitted, social distancing should be maintained. We can say that the pandemic will leave a big mark on cricket even after it is gone. We’ll get through this! And update your about every up & go on cricket grounds.
