Root calls for amendment to ‘bad light’ rule
ENGLAND captain Joe Root has claimed creative changes must be made “somewhere, somehow” to help prevent future Test matches being ruined by bad light.
The second Test against Pakistan came to a fittingly flat finale last night as the home side finished on 110 for four in their first innings, replying to Pakistan’s 236, a total made across four interrupted days.
A paltry total of 134.2 overs were bowled in the match, including little more than 10 over the weekend, with time lost to a killer combination of poor visibility, showers and a saturated outfield — the smallest amount of on-field action in the country since 1987.
The plentiful delays created a space that was filled with plenty of debate and conjecture, with the light issue generating most heat.
Some advocate pulling forward the ring-fenced 11am start, others want the pink ball to be used as it already is in day/night Test cricket and others have called for teams to play on regardless if stadium floodlights are of a suitable specification.
Root is open to any combination of the three, agreeing the sporting spectacle that so many have worked so hard to lay on in the midst of a global health crisis had been compromised over the last five days.
Crucially, though, he absolved umpires Richard Kettleborough and Michael Gough of any fault amid suggestions that the pair’s decision to call stumps on Sunday at 3.50pm had drawn widespread disapproval.
“I think it’s hard to blame the umpires here. There’s something bigger that needs looking at higher up the chain,” said Root.
“This is way above my pay grade, but there are different things that could be trialled to avoid similar scenarios in future. It’s frustrating, it’s been a huge talking point and I think it needs to be addressed somewhere, somehow.
“Until those things change from the ICC, the umpires have to follow the rules that are in front of them.”