Rain Stopped Play

by ten years after Sat 21 Mar 2009, 03:08

Ever wondered why rain stops play in cricket ? In most team sports play continues unless the conditions become extreme.

In one day matches play occasionally continues in quite heavy rain and the players don't come down with terrible diseases so why should this not apply in general.

The immediate disadvantage would be to the fielding side who would find holding the the ball tricky and footholds less certain (no different to football in this respect). The batting side will also be disadvantaged as it is harder to concentrate when being soaked and the pitch would deteriorate.

The last point relates to the covered pitches debate, of course. Some lost arts of batsmanship would be resurrected.

by The One Sat 21 Mar 2009, 03:29

most sports that allow play during rain also have both teams performing the same skills at the same time on the field. cricket is very different

by skully Sat 21 Mar 2009, 03:37

I remember playing in a Saturday afternoon game and it rain persistently all arvo. But we kept playing. We were in the field and a couple of our outfielders delighted in diving for the ball and bringing up flumes of water. The ball was so soapy in the end I had to hold it across the seam and revert to off-spin so it didn't slip out my hand. If I recall correctly, I took a 5-fer.

Good times.

But they are softc0cks at more senior levels. Cool

by ten years after Sat 21 Mar 2009, 04:10

The One wrote:most sports that allow play during rain also have both teams performing the same skills at the same time on the field. cricket is very different

Fair point T.O, cricket is rather unusual in that respect. In the case of cricket it's not clear who is disadvantaged by playing in rain so i'm not sure that this should stop them. I suspect the original reason for rain stoppage is more to do with the comfort of the players rather than fairness.

Baseball and American football are two other team sports where the teams on the pitch at any time are performing different skills. In both cases teams switch roles after only a few minutes so i suppose any effect of rain should balance out fairly quickly. Do they play Baseball in the rain?

by The One Sat 21 Mar 2009, 05:30

more than the side disadvantaged during the period of rain i think its more the disadvantage faced by the team after the rain. the pitch can change completely and without doubt favours the bowling side if it becomes a 'sticky dog'. not fair imo on a team if it has to bat after the rain if their opposition got their chance on a road

also is there any advantage to playing in driving rain? makes it a poor spectacle and could even lead to a farce

by ten years after Sat 21 Mar 2009, 05:58

The One wrote:more than the side disadvantaged during the period of rain i think its more the disadvantage faced by the team after the rain. the pitch can change completely and without doubt favours the bowling side if it becomes a 'sticky dog'. not fair imo on a team if it has to bat after the rain if their opposition got their chance on a road

also is there any advantage to playing in driving rain? makes it a poor spectacle and could even lead to a farce

For most of the history of cricket, pitches weren't covered during rain. IMO it is a great shame to have lost the 'sticky dog'. If i could make a single change to the game it would be to stop covering pitches. This is, of course, not the same as playing while it is still raining.

The main advantage of playing in the rain would be to avoid lost time. Some of the absurdities of One Day cricket would be fixed as well. I dont think it would hurt the spectacle that much.