As Sri Lanka cricket players have returned to the outdoor training session in Colombo after a two-month novel Coronavirus forced hiatus, Lankan head coach Mickey Arthur has on Wednesday (June 4) made some interesting observations following the first few post-COVID-19 lockdown nets sessions.
Recently, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) had announced that a select squad of 13 players will undergo a 12-day ‘Residential Training Camp’ at the Colombo Cricket Club starting earlier this week under the new guidelines by the ICC and its Cricket Committee in a wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
Arthur, a former Australia, South Africa, and Pakistan coach, said the bowlers are trying to get used to not applying saliva on cricket balls during the training sessions, as the ICC banned the use of the saliva to shine the ball to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 for the safety of the players and officials on the field.
The head coach, who is part of the ICC cricket committee that made several recommendations last week, revealed that the bowlers reported that applying sweat on the ball makes it a bit heavier in comparison to saliva, complaining the sweat is not quite as effective for ball management as saliva.
Arthur told ESPNcricinfo on Wednesday: “It was interesting chatting to the bowlers, who said sweat made the ball a little bit heavier than saliva did. Saliva was their preferred mechanism of shining the ball. But it is what it is now, you've just got to get on with it.”
He further added, “Because I'm on the [ICC] cricket committee, I do know the debates and the chats that went around the recommendation to avoid using saliva on the ball - though you can use sweat on the ball because it's been proven that sweat is not a real threat. The consensus in that committee meeting was: 'Oh, well, if you can put sweat on, then it's ok. It's almost the same.'”
Apart from avoiding the use of the saliva, Lankan players are also adjusting to a highly unusual training and living environment, in order to prevent COVID-19 infection, as no one is allowed to leave either venue for personal reasons, only going from hotel to ground and vice versa.
Arthur further explained, “Every morning we're having temperatures taken every time you leave the room. We're wearing masks all the time. It's almost total isolation, because in the hotel we've got our own eating area, the gym is cleared during our gym sessions and they clear the pool for our recovery sessions. There's no interaction with anyone else apart from the little bubble that we're in. We were washing hands regularly as well. It is so different, but everybody's sort of embraced it, as we have to. Dr Daminda Attanayake - our health advisor - she's been absolutely outstanding.”
During the training session on Tuesday, Sri Lankan Dimuth Karunaratne suffered a heatstroke, requiring medical attention and but he is fine and expected to be back training on Wednesday.
Arthur signed off by saying, “They are doing a few more precautionary tests on Dimuth, but soon as those are done he'll be up and ready to go. He's a determined bloke.”
(With ESPNcricinfo Inputs)
