What is Light in cricket?

One of the most essential aspects of the stadium is its lighting. For instance, it is impossible to conceive of a football game that does not include a large number of spotlights that illuminate the field, which enables games to be played even at late hours of the night. Cricket, on the other hand, is a game that is generally conservative and may occasionally go for a very long period. During the time when there was no artificial lighting in the stadiums, the fundamental laws of the game were established more than a century ago. We will tell you everything about a light in cricket or bad light.

What is a light in cricket?

Those who are interested in cricket often come across the term “bad light” or “just light” in the news or hear it from commentators. This phrase is used in matches where the game is played all day. It refers to a scenario in which the officials make the decision to remove players from the field because the light in cricket has grown so faint that it is impossible to differentiate between the ball and the other players.

This decision has certain reasons and features:

• If the ball is hard to see on the field, it interferes with both the serving team and the batter: the team’s batsman does not see the ball when he is supposed to serve, and the fielders cannot return it to play after the service has been made. In addition, the speed of the ball in a cricket match can reach 160 km / h, which makes playing on the field where the cricketers cannot see the ball extremely traumatic.
• Bad light in cricket does not always mean that it is dark: sometimes the referees are forced to stop the match when the weather is cloudy, and the sky darkens so much that it becomes very difficult to see the ball (usually red) on the field.
• Batsmen, wicket-keepers and close-in fielders, who are in danger and in the path of a high-speed ball, are most affected by playing with bad light.
• As of this writing, the bad light was last announced on the second day of the World Test Championship final match between India and New Zealand on July 19, 2021. Then the reason for stopping the match was not the usual twilight, which comes with the onset of the evening, but bad weather, because of which the match had to be interrupted.

Evidently, just like any other court judgment, bad light in cricket is often subject to criticism. The fact is that the game is interrupted, and the break at a certain moment plays into the hands of one team and interferes with the other. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that the implementation of the bad light regulation is the subject of a great deal of disagreement. This is precisely the circumstance that occurred on the second day of the World Test Championship final match between India and New Zealand on July 19, 2021. It is a particularly terrible condition since it requires the game to be interrupted many times during the day.

As a result of the weather in this nation, which is characterized by a propensity for overcast and dark skies, matches that are played in England are often halted for this reason.

How The Referee Understands That It Is Necessary To Stop The Match Due To Bad Light

Because there would be an excessive number of people who would be displeased with the decision to halt the competition, the referee makes the decision to utilize an electronic device rather than relying on their eyes to assess the light level. Fans of cricket who watch the matches have certainly seen the referee walking around the field while holding a little gadget in his hands on more than one occasion; this is a scene that is very recognizable. This this moment, he is taking a measurement of the amount of light in cricket.

If the light does not improve throughout the playing day after the match has been suspended, the referee is required to postpone the game until the following morning.

One of the odd aspects of evaluating poor light in cricket is that the referee is the one who decides whether the stadium is adequately lighted or not in reference to the first measurement, often known as the first reading. During the whole of a test match, for instance, if measurements were obtained on the very first day of the match, those measurements will continue to serve as a reference value.

Cricket Lighting: Rules and History

The duration of a cricket match may range anywhere from a few hours to many days. As a result, the typical duration of a Twenty20 match is around three hours, the duration of a One Day International match is a whole day, and the duration of a test match is often five full days.

It is dependent on the format of the competition whether the players are shaped differently or the color of the ball is different. The practice of playing multi-day test matches with a red ball and white clothing is a tradition that dates back many years.

Playing with a white ball is the standard for one-day matches. There is no regulation regarding the color of the players’ jerseys; rather, it is determined by the team.

One of the reasons for this distinction is that when teams compete in a one-day match, they often play the match to the very conclusion on the same day that it began (unless, of course, adverse weather conditions or other situations prohibit them from doing so altogether). In test matches, a totally different scenario takes place: as the sun begins to set and vision begins to worsen, the referees halt the competition and decide to restart it the next day.

When seen via the lighting, the white ball emerges considerably more prominently than the red one.

When Cricket Matches Were Artificially Lit

For a long time, artificial lighting was taboo for cricket, as it is a fairly traditional sport with strict rules and traditions. The ban on artificial lighting was lifted relatively recently.

• The first cricket match to use spotlights took place on August 11 1952 at the Highbury Stadium in England.
• The International day/night cricket format emerged in 1979, while cricket stadiums worldwide began to be equipped with floodlights for cricket matches, both international and regional.
• In test cricket, for the first time, the ball passed under spotlights on November 27, 2015.

The majority of the time, floodlights are installed on tall poles that are so high that they do not illuminate the eyes of the players who are watching a ball fly high into the air. There is the possibility of installing floodlights underneath the stadium in the event that it is not just utilized for cricket but also for other sports.

When playing test cricket, the poor light rule is often used due to the fact that the red ball is difficult to see when it is dark. This was developed to make it simpler for spectators and players to follow the action while it was taking place during the daytime.