A recommendation banning the use of saliva to shine a cricket ball when the sport resumes is only a temporary measure, Anil Kumble, the chairman of the International Cricket Council’s Cricket Committee, has said, according to Reuters.

Cricketers have used the age-old method of shining one side of the ball with a combination of saliva and sweat to help bowlers generate more movement in the air as it travels towards the batsman.

“This is only an interim measure and as long as we have hopefully control over Covid-19 in a few months or a year’s time then I think things will go back to as normal as it can be,” he said.