Day/Night Games
Whilst watching the Twenty20 game between Yorkshire and Sussex the other night, it occured to me that there may be a distinct advantage to bat first as conditions appear to be much easier for the side batting first in natural light and this applies equally to Pro40 games.
I have no idea of the statistics to support this opinion but it seems that it is considerably more difficult to bat as conditions change from sunlight (if we can remember that!) to twilight and then full-on floodlights. I appreciate that the odd catch gets dropped when it may well have been caught in daylight but this seems to be outweighed by the number of dismissals that are light-related.
Is there a case for some sort of formula along the lines of Duckworth-Lewis based on the relative quality of light for each side to compensate for the advantage of winning the toss and batting? And, does the side winning the toss always choose to bat in day/night games?
2 comments:
My guess is that players are adversely affected by the pressure of batting second and knowing what target they must hit, rather than the side batting second struggling because of light conditions. It would be extremely difficult to prove either way though!
Wouldn't it be easy to prove? Statistically compare the percentages of wins batting second between day games and day/night games! Nominate Ed for that research...
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