Ashes too hot to stop

CRICKET’S law makers say Sunday’s record-breaking Ashes heat could have seen play suspended if umpires wished, but claim it would have been a “PR nightmare” to do so.

Temperatures reached above 47C in Sydney on Sunday, with readings near the SCG recording the highest figures for an Ashes match in Australia.

England captain Joe Root bore the full brunt of it, the heat adding to a bug he was already battling.

He went to hospital before the final day with dehydration, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Root’s illness prompted former Australian batsman Dean Jones, whose famous doublecentury in the 1986 tied Test in India left him on a drip, to question whether play should have been abandoned.

But the Marylebone Cricket Club’s head of cricket, John Stephenson, said there are already rules in place for umpires to remove players from the field if conditions are unreasonable or dangerous.

“That brought the whole situation to a head, 47 degrees. It would have been a bit of PR nightmare when you have a full house at the SCG,” Stephenson said.

“I think there are ways of managing it. Maybe looking at shorter breaks, more drinks intervals rather than just hauling the players off.”