Bad Light - Should it be changed?

[RoboRocks]

We should accept that bad light is just a part of Cricket, Cricket is dependant on having decent weather, it's going to be bad at some points.

Yes, but we should do what we can do to keep players on the field and I think if umpires made the decision themselves then we would have more play than we do have certainly.

 

[Sureshot]

I'm sure I said that in the other part of that post, Rob.

I like how county cricket is working it this year. The umpire decides on it, it takes the tactics factor out of it.

I did.

It's a much better way of sorting the bad light issue.

 

[Gilly Fan]

We should be able to use artificial light. I don't know how hard it would be to see a red ball in white lights. If anything, they shouldn't be playing ODI cricket under lights. How are you meant to see the white ball in those lights?

 

[Highlander999]

I wonder what cricket on the moon would be like?

 

[Harrypotter_fan]

I wonder what cricket on the moon would be like?

Shots will go 6 times higher

 

[Sureshot]

We should be able to use artificial light. I don't know how hard it would be to see a red ball in white lights. If anything, they shouldn't be playing ODI cricket under lights. How are you meant to see the white ball in those lights?

Don't confuse the colour of the ball and the colour of the lights as being the same thing. Light isn't white.

 

[angryangy]

We should be able to use artificial light. I don't know how hard it would be to see a red ball in white lights. If anything, they shouldn't be playing ODI cricket under lights. How are you meant to see the white ball in those lights?

It's about contrast. The lights are high above the ground and well outside the field of play, so the white ball reflects the white light and contrasts with the black sky, which will appear darker due to the glare. It is still difficult if the ball is in a straight line between you and the light tower, make no mistake, but this is something of an extreme case.

 

[harishankar]

A bad light should always be changed. Just remove it from the socket and replace it with a new bulb

Seriously though, I think the bad light rule can be improved over what it is currently. It's very tricky when you consider the match situation and either of the two sides wanting to play on. The umpires should take an independent decision on light, just like they take a decision on when it starts raining.

 

[Gilly Fan]

Don't confuse the colour of the ball and the colour of the lights as being the same thing. Light isn't white.

You can't tell me that it would be easy to catch a ball looking straight into that light tower.

 

[Sureshot]

How did you get to that conclusion out of my post, Gilly fan?

Light isn't white, the only reason floodlights are white is because of the heat being produced by whatever filament they are using.

 

[KBC]

There is no main focus tbh. Many lights in england for county matches are used by the help of cranes as stands. In near future, you could expect more lights of less power or set of lights ; right, One facing the front of the stadium and the other at the back of the stadium giving more powerful light.

If this might not work for county, Then, ECB should try and give the Lights offered to the teams for an hour or so for 2 days out of the 5 days of the match. That shouldn't cost much a bit.

But, this isn't the case only in england, many countries are in the same situation.

 

[Owzat]

Looking at the test match between England and New Zealand, a lot was made of bad light and the time it took out of the game. The question is should we do something about it, if yes what can we do?

What I thought is that we could experiment with what light is considered a "risk of injury" in a lab type environment of some sort what reading that would be on a light meter. I would also then change the rule on offering batsmen the light since it is used by the batting side in a tactical way. If umpires find that if the light goes below the reading, in which was found during the experiment and then the umpires alone should then go off of the field.

If you do think that bad light is an issue, I would like to hear what you have to say.

Light should only be taken IF there is a serious threat to the batsmen. And this can be diminished by bowlers not pitching short. A ball that rears off a good length could happen in any light. Helmets should be protective enough, if not then that is down to the batsman.

As for 'fair', well a team that is batting in relatively bad light shouldn't be allowed to go off because they're at a slight disadvantage. It's the luck of the draw, like if the pitch deteriorates or overhead conditions help the seamers. How often do we see the batsman play a good shot for four or scoring at a reasonable pace and go off for bad light? And offering it to the fielders is daft, unless it is pitch black only a close catcher should be in serious danger and they are anyway by the nature of the role.

Clamping down on time wasting would also help, mean the game doesn't take any longer than it has to. Dispense with drinks breaks, fielders can get a drink at the boundary at over's end and batsmen change gloves so they can get drinks brought to them if they've been at the crease an hour or more. And there's no reason an umpire can't have a drink with them, in a thermos or brought to them at over's end. Maybe also go back to fielders calling fours rather than have replays for a relatively trivial decision to be made from.

 

[MUFC1987]

I have an answer. Start earlier. Whenever time is lost in the game, it is always tacked on the end of the day, which is then affected by light. I mean take England, Test Matches start at 11 and then go on to 6 with time added on after that. Say it was a venue (or time of year) when light starts to go earlier, then starting an hour earlier should be the answer. I don't think it would make a lot of difference to batting conditions being just an hour. The only problem would be your toffs who don't want Cricket starting too early, but you know, times change and something needs to be done.