It’s quarter past julle moer for cricket bosses to get with the times.
The ICC have taken the decision to ban the use of saliva to shine the ball as an interim measure to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Maar die manne met die planne are still getting complaints about how this is going to affect the battle between bat and ball.
That contest is what makes the game what it is and without it, it’s going to get boring - a criticism that gets thrown the way of the sport all the time by mense that don’t get it.
But I didn’t know that the mense who run the game also fall into that category.
Just how is a seamer going to get the better of the batsman?
Without the use of saliva, bowlers will not be able to maintain the shine on the ball in order to get the swing they need to strike.
So far, no consideration has been given to one of the most exciting sights in cricket.
The thrill of seeing a 140km/h inswinger smashing into the stumps is almost as difficult to resist for the batter to keep out.
And if you ever saw Pakistani legends like Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram get the ball to reverse swing in the death overs, then you would wonder why cricket bosses are letting the coronavirus take that out of the game.
After former India spinner Anil Kumble led a committee to ban the spit polish, they failed to give an alternative for bowlers.
Perhaps they will allow even more new-ball changes to give the bowlers a threat at any time in the match - a bowling powerplay if you will.
Or they can use Aussie brand Kookaburra’s wax applicator to substitute for spit and only let players do ball maintenance under the umpire’s supervision.
It will only be a temporary measure, since the ICC don’t want artificial substances on the ball, so they don’t have to choke on their tea and cucumber sandwiches.
I’m nogal taking a shine to the wax idea, at least it isn’t sandpaper or telling teams to bowl more spinners.