The T20 Blast match between Kent and Gloucestershire had to be halted because of excessive sunlight.
Kent had posted 157-9 after Sam Billings won the toss and opted to bat at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury. The hosts were driven by Tawanda Muyeye (33 in 23 balls), Harry Finch (42 in 34), and Billings (38 in 32). For Gloucestershire, Ajeet Singh Dale returned 3-24, while Josh Shaw got 2-30 and Matt Taylor 2-36.
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In response, Miles Hammond and D’Arcy Short took the tourists to 29-0 in 3.2 overs when the umpires, Max Newell and Nigel Llong, decided that the strong sunlight at the Nackington Road End was getting in the eyes of the batters. They decided to halt play “for the safety of the players”, who came off the field.
Play: Quiz! How well do you know the interruptions in India-England cricket?
When the match eventually resumed after 11 minutes, Hammond (25 in 19) and Short (33 in 21) added 49 in 5.4 overs. A brief collapse reduced the visitors to 62-3, but they did not lose another wicket. Oliver Price (41 not out in 31) and captain Jack Taylor (54 not out in 36) completed the chase in 18.2 overs.
Match 59, Kent vs Gloucestershire
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Has excessive light stopped cricket before?
There have been several examples of this, including three well-known incidents in international cricket.
In the 1995 Old Trafford Test match between England and the West Indies, umpire Dickie Bird called an early tea, 20 minutes before time, when light from an adjacent greenhouse reflected.
More recently, shortly after the dinner break in the McLean Park ODI of 2018/19 between New Zealand and India, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, the unbeaten batters, informed umpires Shaun Haig and Shaun George that the the setting sun had been getting in their eyes. Play was held up for half an hour. A New Zealand-Bangladesh T20I was also held up for the same reason, roughly at the same time of the day.
This is not the only way a heatwave has stopped cricket. Mumbai had a hot and uncharacteristically dry summer in 2017, which prevented the grass from growing and binding the soil, especially in Matunga and Azad Maidan. The curators requested the Kanga League, the most famous club cricket tournament in Mumbai, be postponed to enable them to prepare wickets.
