Decoding the 'bad light' laws in cricket

Australia captain Michael Clarke had to be physically restrained by the on-field umpires during the final day fracas (Getty Images)

As per the rule books, the laws for light meters state:

Law 3.6.1 It is the responsibility of the ICC to supply light meters to the match officials to be used in accordance with these playing conditions.

Law 3.6.2 All light meters shall be uniformly calibrated.

Law 3.6.3 The umpires shall be entitled to use light meter readings as a guideline for determining whether the light is fit for play in accordance with the criteria set out in clause 3.5.3 (b).

Law 3.6.4 Light meter readings may accordingly be used by the umpires:

a) To determine whether there has been at any stage a deterioration or improvement in the light.

b) As benchmarks for the remainder of a stoppage, match and/ or series/event.

But what exactly do the light meters protect the cricketers from? If the laws are to be believed, it is from conditions which are “too dangerous for play” or when “light is too poor”. However, there is ambiguity on both these aspects. There is no mark on the light meters that would indicate that “At this reading, play cannot go on as batsmen and fielders will not be able to visually sight the ball”.

Instead, the instrument only indicates whether the light conditions have improved or worsened, and it is the prerogative of the umpires to make the judgement on whether play can go on or not in the given conditions. What the light meters do offer is the option to the umpires to back up their subjective assessment of the playing conditions with the light meter readings as their justification.

The major drawback for the use of light meters is that there is no objective data on how a player’s performance would degrade in certain light conditions, and if the degradation is to the extent that it renders the game pointless. The extent to which the players depend on lighting conditions for their game is debatable, but it must be accepted that poor light can make the game dangerous for batsmen to a large extent, and fielders as well. Facing fast bowling in poor light affects the judgement of the batsmen greatly. But there is no fixed light meter reading ‘X’ which corresponds to a ‘Y’ percentage increase in danger to the batsmen.

However, these flaws in the usage of light meters don’t stop the cricket lawmakers and administrators from believing that the instruments can be relied upon to get an objective assessment of the playing conditions. Ironically, nothing has been done yet to explore if a change in atmospheric conditions could move the ball quicker through the air or make it swing alarmingly. Probably a meter could be required to take a measure of this as well!