England is a place where cricket feels like it has come home but England is also not the best place to play cricket, especially when looked from a perspective of a fan, who wants to see proper cricket all year around.
England does not have the largest playing fields, the largest stadiums or even the most favourable condition. The climate in England is not the most favourable for a wholesome cricket, especially when talking about the May to July period. The climate in England during this period offers something that halts the play – rain.
The fundamental rule of cricket, or any sport, is that it needs proper playing conditions to be played. As per sub clauses under Clause 2.8 Suspension of play in dangerous or unreasonable circumstances, which is laid out by the ICC for playing conditions , the umpires can “suspend play, or not allow play to start or to recommence”. This means that the play has to be stopped if the umpires feel that the conditions at the given moment are not fit for a game of cricket.
The reason that is laid down for this in Sub – Clause 2.8.8 ” The safety of all persons within the ground is of paramount importance to the ICC. “
This basically suggest that the play needs to be stopped whenever there seems to be a threat to the physical health of a player, umpire, or a ground staff. This makes sense since if all players get hurt due to a ball hitting them which they couldn’t see, sliding on the grass and bruising themselves or an animal biting them or the stadium falling on them, then there will be no one who will be either left to play this glorious sport or even want to play this glorious sport.
Rain can lead to most of the problems arising since it can do the following:
- turn the whole ground into a big, large puddle
- damage the pitch by making it too wet or seeping through it
- reduce visibility
- when, accompanied by lightning, it can also strike a person.
Hence, rain which is a very common happening in England imposes not only threats to the life of the players, ground staff and the audience but can also damage and affect the fielding, bowling, batting and the played shot. If there is a little rain, then the ground might just be perfect for the ball to quickly roll through on the wet surface due to less friction. If it rains too much, the balll might get stuck in a water puddle.
The effects of this are seen widely not only in bilateral matches but also in tournaments such as the ICC 2019 Men’s Cricket World Cup.
Some of the shorter dimension grounds also increase the effect of the rain and make it more favourable to one side. If the rain occurs in the second innings, then the seamer of the bowling team get an extra advantage and can put more pressure on the batting side. Batting is always harder after rain or during very humid temperatures due to the several factors such as ball swing and pitch conditions.
So, the questions arise that with so many effects of rain on a cricket match, the history of cricket matches being shortened, abandoned completely or in between an ongoing match and the several disruptions by rain, should there be a new set of months as the playing season in England, should there be a different team as to when ‘THE HUNDRED’ League is held, should there be a new set of rules for play in England and how should everything be worked out!
There is no one answer to this since:
- if the playing season in England is redefined and the matches are shifted to a new place in the calendar, there will be a lot of trouble as they will have to work it out with each and every team and it will take time to happen since the current FTP needs to be followed till the time it ends.
- ‘THE HUNDRED’ if preponed, will clash with the great ‘INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE’ and if postponed, will clash with the International matches and tournaments.
- a separate set of rules will not help much since the fundamental rules for a ground and the components will have to be kept the same.
- there are also several other factors.
What do you think. Do share your views!
spielens 