The sport of cricket, which is played exclusively in open air stadiums, has a specific, mathematical method to govern weather-affected games. The Duckworth–Lewis (D/L) method was designed to calculate the target score for the team batting second in a limited overs cricket match that is interrupted by weather, or other circumstances.
However, according to a report in the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph, the days of rain-interrupted play may soon be no more. The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB), has reportedly been contacted by an unnamed American company to conduct tests on new technology that would see a canopy of mesh placed over cricket grounds to enable play to continue in spite of rain.
The ECB, which governs the game in the U.K., is also reported to have to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to partner together for this potential project. The MCC is another administrative cricket body, which controls the Lord’s cricket venue, one of the most famous in the world.
The U.S. company has created a transparent meshing material that would held up by wires, which in turn would be suspended from cricket ground’s floodlights, anchored by a hot air balloon in the centre to lift the material up and an artificial canopy of sorts. Another option would have the mesh tethered under balloons with drones.
However, the report notes that there are some significant hurdles to overcome before the technology could be implemented. Issues include where the water runoff will go and also health and safety concerns during times of high winds. In addition to this, the technology could be nearly two years away from concept to actual implementation too.
According to the story, Guy Lavender, the new CEO of the MCC, said: “There is some interesting technology around trying to create protection from rain and keep the game on in wet weather. It is an enormous issue for cricket. When you think about the impact of the weather on cricket in the UK we have a part to play, as a leading club in the game, in thinking about how those new technologies develop and are tested.”
This is not the first time authorities have sought to deal with how the weather can impact upon sports. Ahead of the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government was reported to have used a process called “cloud seeding”, which saw them fire thousands of rockets into the sky filled with a variety of chemicals to stop rain commencing during the opening ceremony in 2008.