David Richardson, the ICC chief executive, admits that cricket is yet to find a solution to the problem of bad light bringing games to an unsatisfactory conclusion, but played down the possibility of using a yellow ball.
Richardson was speaking today after bad light halted England’s charge for victory in the first Test against Pakistan on Saturday. Alastair Cook’s team were 25 runs short of their target when play was abandoned and although umpires Paul Reiffel and Bruce Oxenford followed guidelines to the letter, the England captain questioned whether conditions were dangerous for the batting side.
Richardson said that players had been offered the option of playing under floodlights but rejected it because they believed that such regulations could lead to unfair results.
He said: “We have attempted to say to them that if you have floodlights and they are good enough to use for Test matches then you should just bite the bullet so that even if conditions are not as good as they might be normally, we should just play on and finish the day’s play.
“That was not accepted by any of the teams because they felt that it would be unfair and lead to unjust finishes.”
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Until 2010, batsmen were offered the chance to go off by the umpires. Since then, the on-field officials have been given full control of the decision-making. When they deem light to be unfit for the first time in a match they take a reading on the lightmeter which is used as the measure for the rest of the game.
MCC, the guardian of the Laws, says that this regulation has led to more time on the field, but Richardson said: “There is no doubt that it is one of those issues cricket has been faced with historically and we have never really found a solution to it.”
The first day/night Test is due to be staged in Australia against New Zealand next month with a pink ball and Richardson is pinning his hopes on that colour of ball enabling more five-day games to be played under lights.
“If we can use it for day/night cricket, and it stays in decent enough condition and doesn’t change the game too much, we can use it in the long term for all Tests,” he said.
He was also asked about his suggestion that a “greeny-yellow” ball was a possible solution but said that his comments had been overhyped. “Too much has been made of that comment,” he said.
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Richardson also suggested that India’s stance on decision-review technology was softening. Currently the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will not allow use of the decision review system in matches involving their cricketers - a position that has prevented the technology being rolled out as a matter of course.
Richardson said: “Anil Kumble [the former India leg spinner] is the chairman of our cricket committee and he’s been fully supportive of the process we’re now following. He was one of those who was very strongly against it when it first came in, and he played in the series that first trialled it [in Sri Lanka in 2008], when there were a lot of decisions against India. That upset him for a number of years.
“But he’s seen testing and he’s encouraged by that. Hopefully the BCCI will take heed of the reports that get filed.”
• Bilal Asif, the Pakistan off spinner, could play against England in the second Test even though his suspect action is under review. The 30-year-old has been added to the Test squad despite being reported to the ICC during the ODI series against Zimbabwe, during which he made his international debut. He has been tested in Chennai but the results will not be known until after the second Test has started. ICC rules stipulate that no player is banned until investigations are complete.