Lord’s prayer

In coming up with Britain’s summer sports, our ancestors seem to have chosen meteorological optimism over reality. Winter games – rugby and football – grimly plough on through the mud, sleet and horizontal precipitation that are a certainty in this island’s coldest months. But tennis and cricket, designed for the genteel warmth of an English July, come to a grinding halt the moment the pitter-patter of raindrops is heard on an umpire’s hat. On run the groundskeepers, with acres of tarpaulins to protect the pitch, while punters mill off to find a drink and pray for some sunlight.

Yet such scenes may soon be over at the Home of Cricket. The All England Club in Wimbledon declared the end of the rain delay some years ago when it placed a roof on Centre Court, but the vast spread of the Lord’s outfield is a different challenge altogether. That may now have been cracked by an American company proposing a “fine, transparent mesh” with a large ballon to hold it up.

A floating tent over Lord’s may sound outlandish, but if it succeeds, and cricket can finally see off the worst of an English summer, it would be worthy of a great cheer from the boundary. Players praying for intervention from the heavens to stave off defeat may feel otherwise.