LONDON, England, CMC – England Pacer James Anderson has expressed gratitude to West Indies for taking the “scary decision” to go ahead with the three-match Test tour amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has so far claimed more than 41,000 lives here.
The Caribbean men arrived in Manchester on Tuesday ahead of the historic tour which will be played in a “bio-secure” environment and will be the first series to be played since the pandemic put sports across the world on pause almost four months ago.
“I think it’s great for the game, brilliant that we’re closing in on getting some Test cricket played after a decent lay-off,” said Anderson during a conference call with the media yesterday.
“Certainly, from our point of view, we’re very grateful the West Indies are coming over here. Obviously, with what’s going on in the world it can be, I can imagine, a scary decision for a lot of them, for all of them, to make the journey over, so we’re hugely grateful.”
A Jason Holder-skippered 25-man squad, including 11 reserves, are currently in Old Trafford, Manchester where they will be quarantined for two weeks, during which time they will continue to train in a bid to defend the coveted Wisden Trophy which they won in the Caribbean last year.
The Test series will be played behind closed doors, with the first match at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on July 8 and the other two Tests carded for Old Trafford on July 16 and 24.
The players will be in isolation for the seven-week duration of the tour and will follow strict social distancing and sanitisation protocols throughout.
The tour will be historic not only for the circumstances under which it is being held. It will be the first series in which players will have to abide by an International Cricket Council (ICC) ban on the use of saliva to shine the ball. Sweat, however, will still be allowed under the interim regulation changes that have been implemented in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Anderson, England’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket and ODIs, said the rule would take some getting used to.
“I think it’s gonna be unusual. We’ve been using [these] last few weeks to get used to not [using saliva]. For me, it’s a natural habit to put saliva on the ball so it’s been interesting trying to stop myself doing that,” he said.
However, the fast bowler was confident that he and other players would adjust.
“We can use sweat, so that’s something at least, and I think it will be enough to at least polish the ball enough to do something through the air,” said Anderson.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a huge deal for the players. I think we’ll manage to be able to prepare the ball well enough for it to swing.”
Under the ICC rule, if a player applies saliva to the ball, the umpires will manage the situation with some leniency during an initial period of adjustment, but subsequent instances will result in the team receiving a warning.
A team can be issued up to two warnings per innings but repeated use of saliva on the ball will result in a five-run penalty to the batting side. Whenever saliva is applied to the ball, the umpires will be instructed to clean the ball before play recommences.