Play suspended for...low sun?!
Yes, the Duckworth Lewis method had to be used last night in the match between Derbyshire and Leicestershire because play was suspended "because of low sun" for 98 minutes. How can this be possible? The players all have shades these days and the wicket presumably doesn't align with the setting sun at Derby, or does it?
I have heard of club cricket being played all from one end at the end of the season given that the sun is right behind the bowler's arm at one end...but I certainly don't remember play being suspended for a low sun in a professional game before - does anyone know if it has happened before?
6 comments:
Another case of cricketers forgetting that they are in the entertainment business. I'm sure there must have been some way round the problem (possibly bowling all the overs from one end: as you suggest this is sometimes done in club cricket). I'd like to have heard some of the spectators' comments: they can be pretty caustic in the case of marginal bad light at test matches, so I shudder to think what they'd be for too bright light in a one-day county game. The authorities should refund part of the spectators' ticket money and issue instructions that this should NEVER happen again.
This has been an issue for a while there, they even came up with a rule to deal with it - adding extra time on for any stoppages - but Derbyshire's suggestion last year that they bowl from one end doesn't seem to have gone anywhere.(http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/298078.html)
It seems incredible that a professional ground can have this problem! Here's a possible solution...what about having a large "shade screen" that sites above the sightscreen and blocks the sun from the batsman's eyes? Spectators would have to move from there as they wouldn't see much but at least play could carry on.
Now someone who know's Derby is going to tell me that this would block the view from the Pavilion and the members wouldn't stnad for it?
This has been a problem at Derby for ages, and this is not the first time this season that the low sun problem has reared its head there; I believe that it is in fact due to alignment of the wicket, although I can't tell because DCCC's web site is down.
Clearly, they need to sort it, otherwise it's a commercial disaster, and I seem to recall there are plans to do something about this. But the question also remains "how have they managed in all the previous years?" If Derby is aligned East/West so that the setting sun is a problem, this is not something that has just emerged in the last few years.
That said, I remember batting at Chipstead and Coulsdon CC in Surrey and the setting sun was directly behind the bowler's arm. It was difficult to see the sightscreen, bowler or umpire, let alone the ball being delivered, and the ball was only visible once it pitched; so you had to play it off the pitch, and hope you didn't get a bouncer or beamer. It was, to be honest, just as difficult/dangerous for the wicket-keeper and slips.
In that context, it is very difficult to be much of an entertainer, because you can't see the ball to hit it, and it limits the effectiveness of fast bowlers, because a bouncer would simply be dangerous or even lethal.
Whilst they need to sort it, you would need a very large screen to cover the setting sun for 98 minutes; the sun takes only a few minutes to set, not an hour and a half.
The logical step would be to change the alignment of the pitch. And for Derbyshire to get a web site that is actually switched on!
Just checked, and it is due to the alignment of the pitch, and the difficulty it causes for batting. Derbyshire actually seem to factor this into their time, and allowed an extra hour to the schedule to manage such an eventuality. But the umpires kept them off for longer than that.
So, it does appear to be a regular enough occurrence at Derby for this to be planned for. It would clearly be resolved with a massive great screen or a change in orientation.
I don't think I'd be keen to be a Derby member who has to sit around for several hours a season waiting for the sun to go down!
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