- Local weather may see cricket fade into obscurity
- Consultants extremely involved about international warmth
A brand new report has revealed international local weather situations may finish cricket as a sport, with gamers in danger on account of excessive warmth – and a few Aussie stars are taking the warning to coronary heart.
The Hit for Six: The Hazard Zone report, commissioned by FrontRunners, The British Affiliation for Sustainability in Sport, Local weather Central and The Subsequent Check, highlights how gamers – from grassroots to worldwide cricket stars – are doubtlessly playing with their lives by competing in situations exceeding 37 levels.
The report revealed that in 2024 alone, Pakistan noticed at the least 83 days the place cricket was performed because the mercury soared previous 37 levels, which is the threshold past which outside exercise turns into unsafe.
India noticed harmful game-day temperatures on 52 days, whereas in Australia the determine was 46 days.
The consequences of elevated temperatures embody nausea, fatigue, breathlessness and cramps.
On this 12 months’s Indian Premier League (IPL) – which options the likes of Aussies Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood – greater than half of the 65 matches had been performed in situations categorised as both Excessive Warning or Hazard on the Warmth Index, a measure which mixes air temperature and humidity to evaluate heat-related danger.
A brand new report has revealed international local weather situations may finish cricket as a sport, with gamers in danger from excessive warmth (pictured, Aussie Check star Steve Smith)
The Hit for Six: The Hazard Zone report additionally revealed many IPL video games this 12 months had been performed in harmful situations, with air air pollution additionally a priority (pictured left, Aussie paceman Josh Hazlewood taking part in for Royal Challengers)
Former Check star Simon Katich acknowledged he’s ‘very involved about the way forward for the sport and youthful generations being affected by excessive climate’
‘We’re witnessing a transparent pattern in the direction of extra frequent and extra intense warmth situations for key cricketing nations,’ Dr Mike Tipton, Professor of Human & Utilized Physiology on the Excessive Environments Laboratory on the College of Portsmouth, outlined within the report.
‘Gamers at the moment are being requested to carry out in environments that aren’t simply uncomfortable, however doubtlessly harmful, with rising temperatures and humidity ranges pushing human physiology towards its higher limits.
‘This is not nearly efficiency — it is more and more a query of participant security.’
Air air pollution can also be a significant component in India, with analysis performed by The Subsequent Check revealing not one of the 75 IPL matches this 12 months had ‘good’ air high quality.
Australian all-rounder Ashton Turner has seen sufficient and known as for change.
‘I’ve seen the affect our altering local weather can have on our sport, from the debilitating air air pollution in Delhi to the intense temperatures we expertise in our Australian summers,’ he told the ABC.
‘Ever-increasing temperatures are placing the sport in danger and it is affecting everybody from gamers to coaches to umpires to spectators.
‘We have seen elite athletes on the pinnacle of the game be struck down from warmth exhaustion, [so] how are the under-10’s girls and boys meant to manage on sizzling days?
Junaid Zafar Khan (pictured left) died throughout a cricket match that was performed in 41.7C warmth in Adelaide earlier this 12 months
Aged in his 40s, Khan (pictured) collapsed after spending time within the area earlier than batting, and couldn’t be revived
Former Check star Simon Katich is on the identical web page, stating he’s ‘very involved about the way forward for the sport and youthful generations being affected by excessive climate.’
The report additionally beneficial that nationwide federations be part of Cricket Australia in implementing new warmth coverage pointers.
It comes after a cricketer in his 40s died throughout a match that was performed in excessive warmth in Adelaide earlier this 12 months.
Junaid Zafar Khan couldn’t be revived after collapsing on the sphere through the sport at Concordia Faculty Oval, which went forward with the mercury hitting 41.7 levels.
