“That was a rule brought around Covid with the virus going around the world, but I think as a bowler, you want to have a slight advantage,” Southee said on ESPNcricinfo’s Match Day. “We see the game going the way it’s going and seeing sides score 362 and more often than not over 300 in this format. I think there needs to be something in the bowlers’ favour, and whether that’s a little bit of saliva, then yeah, I don’t see why they couldn’t afford to get that back in.”
“If we look at the state of that ball, I mean towards the back end, it was really scuffed up, and I think had you used the saliva [to polish one side of the ball], the element of the reverse swing might have come into play,” Philander said. “So it certainly does play a part. You can get it to shine up and you use the elements to swing it a little longer.
“I’d like to see that element being brought back into the game because I think it’s needed as well. I mean, especially in ODI cricket where we see batters really dominating, especially when you play on surfaces like we’ve just seen in Pakistan as well where it’s really batter friendly.”
Southee felt that the use of saliva to polish one side of the ball and induce reverse swing makes even more of a difference in red-ball cricket than in white-ball.
“I think the ball only swings initially for a few overs [in white-ball cricket]. But with the red ball, you are able to bring it back and obviously sweat can be limited at times in various parts of the world, whereas saliva you’re able to obviously have access to it from a number of sources and in all parts of the world,” he said. “I think there is an advantage to having saliva on the ball, probably more so in red-ball cricket than white-ball cricket.”
Are there any other advantages of using saliva to polish the ball instead of sweat?
“With the South African team, we were always trying to keep the ball as dry as possible,” Philander said. “The minute you start erring on the side of sweat, I think you start wetting both sides of the ball. Your hands get sweaty, especially when you play in hot, humid conditions.
“Saliva was definitely the preferred method of shining the ball. In the longer run in the scheme of things, I’d like to see that being brought back. As far as sweat is concerned, I do feel that it’s difficult to control the amount of sweat you put on the ball, [especially when] you start sweating obviously heavily.”
