The Bangladesh Cricket Board avoided a major embarrassment on Sunday when it cancelled today’s day-night match against Zimbabwe for insufficient light and decided to hold a day game instead.
The match, third of the five-match series scheduled to begin at 2:30pm, will now begin at 9:00am. The decision was made after a drama in the evening that followed an inspection by the match officials. Match referee Chris Board found insufficient light at the boundary rope as the cricket board switched on the newly-installed floodlights for the first time on Sunday evening.
In keeping with ICC standards, the lighting should of 2400 lux at the centre of the wicket and 2200 lux at the 30-yard circle. The rule also stipulates that there should be a minimum of 2000 lux at the boundary rope to hold a day-night match.
The BCB claimed that it had installed a floodlight having a capacity of 2800 lux, but the lux of the lighting was found to be nowhere near the standards during the first experiment.
The boundary rope was clearly dark which prompted the match referee to change the schedule and both the teams agreed, helping the cricket board to avoid an embarrassment.
Gazi Ashraf Hossain, secretary of the series organising committee, apologised to the cricket lovers who have already bought tickets for any the inconvenience the decision might cause to them. ‘I sincerely apologise to them. We did not have any other option.’
‘We have seen here only half the ground is lighted. The match referee thought it would be inappropriate to hold the game in such poor lighting. So we decided to earlierise the schedule.’
Ashraf, however, declined comments when he was asked if the decision could have any impact on the World Cup, which is only 75 days away. The stadium is scheduled to hold six World Cup matches, including two quarter-finals, all of which will be day-nighters.
‘It is not in my jurisdiction,’ Ashraf told reporters after a meeting with the match officials.
‘We were told by the people concerned that they would complete installing the floodlight before this match. Unfortunately, that did not happen,’ he said.
The National Sports Council, which has supervised the work, had assured the cricket board that everything would be in place before the schedule.
Abdur Rahman, the director (planning) of the sports council, was confident even on Saturday evening about the holding of the match in the lighting although the deadline for the installation expired on November 30.
