ECB's bright idea to beat bad light

[Sachinism]

In a quest to make cricket immune from bad light following the loss of 153 overs during the first three days at Lord's, the England and Wales Cricket Board are to consider using illuminated sightscreens, or 'brightscreens', for all major matches. The idea, which was first proposed to the International Cricket Council by your correspondent in 2006, would illuminate the backdrop behind the bowler's arm, a reversal of the white ball/black screen idea which is now standard in one-day cricket. In recent years floodlights were thought to provide a panacea, with bad light being solved at the flick of a switch once the umpire's light meter came out, as Steve Bucknor's did so many times at Lord's (right) but batsmen and fielders alike found the red ball difficult to see. The Law regarding bad light states that umpires can stop play only if there is an "obvious and foreseeable risk to any player or umpire". Brightening the sightscreens would help batsmen but not the fielders square of the wicket. It may not work, but the ECB and MCC are willing to try it in order to find a solution to a problem that has cost both organisations money. "We simply cannot afford to have any more days like Friday when play was stopped and restarted five times due to bad light," an ECB source said. The first step will be to find someone to build a screen that could either be illuminated from within, like a fluorescent light, or lit by shining external lights on to the screen's surface.

[amits]

looks to be a good idea, but this should be tried in domestic cricket 1st before trying it out in intl matches. also, there is a plan to start day-night test matches by 2011 in australia