ICC: It is all right to use sweat to polish cricket ball but not saliva

These regulations require bowlers – as well as the designated ball-shiner of every Test team – to change the habits of a lifetime and not to lick their fingers upon receipt of the cricket ball. That could be a hard change to make and the new rules will be tough to police for the umpires since the assumption is that any transgression by the fielding side will be an unwitting one. Hopefully the penalty for offending bowlers will not be so draconian as for running on the pitch after delivering the ball (three strikes and you cannot bowl again in the innings). For the first time since 2002 there will not be “neutral umpires” standing in Test matches.  A combination of challenges over international travel, limited commercial flights and mandatory quarantine periods means that the committee has recommended that local match officials be appointed in Test cricket for the time being.