The ICC had banned the use of saliva to shine the ball last year.© AFP
New Zealand all-rounder Glenn Phillips has been accused of using saliva to shine the ball during Day 3 of the ongoing first Test against Bangladesh in Sylhet. The incident took place during the 34th over when Phillips applied saliva on the ball after bowling the first delivery to Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto. After stumps on Day 3, Bangladesh team manager Nafees Iqbal said that they were aware of the “incident and had seen the footage”, and also revealed that they had informed the fourth umpire over the same.
Did Glenn Phillips use saliva to shine the ball?
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.#BANvNZ pic.twitter.com/NjYGLkVt6S— FanCode (@FanCode) November 30, 2023
On field umpires, Ahsan Raza and Paul Reiffel, however, didn’t take any actions at that time despite being aware of the situation.
Law 41.3 of the game, updated and put into effect on October 1, 2022, states, “When cricket resumed following the onset of Covid-19, playing conditions were written in most forms of the game stating that applying saliva to the ball was no longer permitted. MCC’s research found that this had little or no impact on the amount of swing the bowlers were getting. Players were using sweat to polish the ball, and this was equally effective.”
“The new Laws will not permit the use of saliva on the ball, which also removes any grey areas of fielders eating sugary sweets to alter their saliva to apply to the ball. Using saliva will be treated the same way as any other unfair methods of changing the condition of the ball,” it adds.
Meanwhile, on Day 3 of the opening Test, Bangladesh skipper Shanto’s unbeaten ton put the hosts in control.
Bangladesh were 308/7 at Lunch in their second innings, leading New Zealand by 301 runs.
Earlier, in reply to Bangladesh’s total of 310 in the first innings, New Zealand had taken a narrow seven-run lead after being bowled out for 317.
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