Jason Holder success offers evidence that swing can have impact even amid Covid-19 restrictions

Holder took seven wickets in the match, including six in the first innings, with the West Indies captain at times finding prodigious movement in the air and off the pitch

The managing director of the company responsible for producing Dukes cricket balls has pointed to Jason Holder’s performance at the Ageas Bowl as evidence that swing bowling will not be eradicated by coronavirus regulations preventing saliva use.

Among the safety restrictions and temporary playing conditions in place to counter the Covid-19 pandemic, players have been banned from putting saliva on the ball in order to shine it up, forcing them to come up with alternative plans for keeping the ball polished and helpful for seamers. In recreational cricket, the ban extends to sweat as well as saliva.

Holder took seven wickets in the match, including six in the first innings, with the West Indies captain at times finding prodigious movement in the air and off the pitch.

“The ball did swing and it was a balanced game of cricket,” Dilip Jajodia, managing director of British Cricket Balls Ltd, told Reuters.

“When you flick your wrist, there are so many things that apply to swing. Not just anybody can run up and swing a ball. There are swing bowlers and there are fast bowlers.

“You can’t look at Mark Wood or Jofra Archer and say: ‘Oh, the ball is not swinging’. They are not swing bowlers, they are fast bowlers.

“Likewise, Shannon Gabriel is not a swing bowler either. For them, Jason Holder swings the ball and he was moving it.”

James Anderson also took three wickets in West Indies’ first innings, taking advantage of any swing that was on offer to dismiss John Campbell, Shamarh Brooks and Roston Chase, but went wicketless on the final day as the tourists won by four wickets.

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