Cricket Australia is planning to resume the game of cricket later in May under strict guidelines laid by the doctors to curb the spread of the coronavirus. In Australia, the virus did not spread drastically, and their recovery rate is better than in other countries.
Earlier, CA had passed the rule of no use of saliva or sweat, which are natural ingredients to shine the ball. The Aussies player will use artificial substances though what substances will be used has not been made clear.
As reported by ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’, CA is discovering strategies for the restart of training under the watchful eyes of its chief medical officer Dr John Orchard and head of sports science and sports medicine Alex Kountouris.
No high-five or ruffling hair:
The first and foremost step to curb the spread of the virus is social distancing for which the players will have to stop huddling. According to the head of sports science Alex Kountouris, the players can easily manage physical distance, but they will have to follow some new norms. He said that players would have to stop doing high-five and also ruffling others hair, which players do to appreciate another player.
“There’s physical distancing in the nets – there’s two or three bowlers in each net. One bowl at a time, the batter is 22 yards away so it’s not a big problem,” Kountouris said as quoted by “The Sydney Morning Herald
“We don’t see it as too big a problem to manage, but these are the things we’re spelling out,. This is what you should do: keep your distance, how you should handle the ball, these are things easy to manage.”
“You might not see high-fiving after a wicket or people ruffling someone else’s hair,” Kountouris said.
Kountouris added that the players would have to find new ways to celebrate while keeping in mind to maintain social distancing. He also opined that players would have to get in the habit of such things until the doctors find the proper medication to fight the coronavirus.
“It will be a spaced huddle. It will be the new norm. That’s one of those things, the physical distancing, for the time being, that will definitely be out until a vaccine or some sort of solution like that [comes up].
“I think we’ll have to find a different way to celebrate, they’ll have to be innovative. There are things you won’t be able to chop out overnight but people will gradually get used to doing things differently.”
Meanwhile, Australia will become the first country to resume the game after the lockdown, which started in March. On the other hand, the England Cricket Board (ECB) has postponed all the cricket related activities until July. BCCI has also not taken any firm decision on when will cricket resumes in India.