Watch: James Anderson's Action Creates Controversy As Fans Accuse Him Of Applying Saliva On The Ball

England pace spearhead James Anderson is being accused on social media of using saliva to shine the ball during the fifth day of the ongoing first Test against West Indies at the Ageas Bowl. Before the resumption of the series, the ICC had banned the use of saliva to help limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.

While announcing the news, the ICC had also announced that the teams would cope a five-run penalty for multiple breaches. And it looks like James Anderson is struggling to keep the shine on the ball without saliva or that is what the fans think. England are yet to receive any warning from the umpires but it has not stopped social media users to raise fingers at James Anderson.

The fans are pointing to footage in the sixth over of West Indies’ chase of 200 as evidence to claim that James Anderson applied saliva on the ball. The evidence, however, is inconclusive because of the camera angle. His mouth is out of shot as he reaches up to obtain fluid in order to shine the ball.

When the angle was clear, the pacer rubbed his fingers on his forehead to obtain sweat. The ICC has not banned the players from using sweat. On the second occasion, however, the camera changes its angle and the fans believe that it was done deliberately to hide James Anderson’s transgression.

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— Si Lomas (@SLomasSCFC1883) J<!---->u<!---->l<!---->y<!----> <!---->1<!---->2<!---->,<!----> <!---->2<!---->0<!---->2<!---->0

Sky Sports Cricket later showed alternative camera angles to show that the veteran pacer was in fact wiping his face to use sweat, not saliva, to shine the ball. Former England captain and commentator Nasser Hussain also made sure to explain the entire incident.

“Mikey I just want to try and clear something up, we’ve had quite a few tweets in saying ‘Have they seen or are Anderson and Archer putting saliva on the ball?’,” he said.

“Obviously you’re not allowed to do that. Just be careful of the close-up angle. From this angle it looks like Anderson’s gone to his mouth to put saliva on the ball, he then goes to shine it, but I’ve done some more work as a director and got our cameramen just to pan out a bit and show that actually he’s going to his sweat on the brow to shine the ball. Same with Archer, he’s using his shirt, from the close angle it looks like he goes to his mouth to shine the ball. I’ve asked our cameramen just to pan back and you can see sweat from his head onto his ball, onto his shirt and that’s what he’s using to shine the ball.

“If I can carry on just with the regulations, they are given a bit of leeway with saliva. But I reckon by day five now they are past that leeway. They are then allowed two warnings if they do use saliva. After that it will be a five-run penalty to whichever side or bowler does it, and then if they do use it the ball has to be cleaned by the umpire. So far both sets of teams and bowlers have been very good and very strict with no saliva on the ball,” he added.

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