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Auckland medium pacer Ben Lister became the first COVID-19 substitute when he replaced left-handed batsman Mark Chapman before their match against Otago in the Plunket Shield game.
Chapman had reported that he felt sick and had undergone the COVID-19 test. Lister was named as the replacement for the batsman atleast until the reports of the test are out.
The match between the two sides had begun a day later as compared to the encounters of the tournament and hence the replacement was announced before the toss and not during the match.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) had made few changes in the rule book after the spread of coronavirus. The ban on use of saliva to keep the shine of the ball and COVID-19 substitute were the two major alterations made by the ICC.
A team would be warned twice for using applying the saliva on the ball per innings and the third instance would lead to a 5-run penalty. “Players will not be permitted to use saliva to shine the ball,” the ICC said.
“A team can be issued up to two warnings per innings,” the ICC said. “But repeated use of saliva on the ball will result in a 5-run penalty to the batting side.”
The ICC also allowed a COVID-9 substitute. “Teams will be allowed to replace players displaying symptoms of COVID-19 during a Test match,” the ICC said in a statement. “In line with concussion replacements, the Match Referee will approve the nearest like-for-like replacement.”
The 26-year-old Chapman has played 6 ODIs and 24 T20Is. He has so far scored 161 runs in ODIs at an average of 32.20 while in T20Is, he has notched up 475 runs at a strike-rate of 114.18. Chapman first made his T20I debut for Hong Kong against Nepal back in the 2014 and played his first ODI for Hong Kong against UAE in 2015.
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The left-handed batsman then represented New Zealand playing the debut ODI and T20I game for the Kiwis in 2018. He played his first ODI against England. He is eligible to play for New Zealand through his father.
Lister on the other hand has played for Auckland A and Auckland. He has been a part of 18 First-class matches picking up 46 wickets while has played 19 List A and T20s each. he has scalped 32 wickets in List A career and 21 in T20s so far.
