Glenn Phillips caught putting saliva on ball on TV, umpires take no-action

Glenn Phillips was observed on television applying saliva to the ball during the third day of the Sylhet Test match between Bangladesh and New Zealand. This incident occurred after the first ball of the 34th over, wherein Phillips seemed to apply saliva on the ball twice before delivering it. Despite this, on-field umpires Ahsan Raza and Paul Reiffel did not intervene or take any action at that moment.

According to ESPNcricinfo, an ICC spokesperson said that it was up to match officials to "deal with on-field incidents, and we don't give statements".

Law 41.3 of the game, which was updated and put into effect on October 1, 2022 stated, "When cricket resumed following the onset of Covid-19, playing conditions were written in most forms of the game stating that applying saliva to the ball was no longer permitted. MCC's research found that this had little or no impact on the amount of swing the bowlers were getting. Players were using sweat to polish the ball, and this was equally effective.

Penalty runs were issued by umpires in a previous similar instance

"The new Laws will not permit the use of saliva on the ball, which also removes any grey areas of fielders eating sugary sweets to alter their saliva to apply to the ball. Using saliva will be treated the same way as any other unfair methods of changing the condition of the ball."

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A prior occurrence of a player applying saliva to the ball, involving Alishan Sharafu during a Nepal vs UAE ODI in November 2022, led to Nepal being penalized with five runs.

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