England v Pakistan 2020.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I think there's some issue that the red ball can't be seen clearly against the shadow that it casts on the pitch, just before and after it pitches, when the lights are on.

[Durhamfootman]

England win toss and opt to bat first

Archer in for Curran

let's see if he thinks it's worth bending his back in this one

[Durhamfootman]

Captain Root says he has been told to bowl fast and he will be used in short controlled bursts, so that answers that question

[Arthur Crabtree]

Let's see what he can do then. The commentators will be keeping an eye on his speed.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Pakistan unchanged. England bat.

[Durhamfootman]

Dobell has included this link regarding the balls

I can't do the twaddly thing so it means nothing to me, but it might prove useful to others if they know how these things work and how to find the relevant thing

https://twitter.com/tannerybloke/status ... 4010587138

[sussexpob]

Burns gets out in a way that should be renamed the Burns..... another snick to the cordon.

[sussexpob]

Crawley lucky to survive a few there.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Burns is struggling more and more as the summer goes on.

[sussexpob]

I think there's some issue that the red ball can't be seen clearly against the shadow that it casts on the pitch, just before and after it pitches, when the lights are on.

Not sure if its just a bit of an old wives tale myself. Of course, if you are to light up something with harsher or more intense light (like a floodlight), the contrast between the bright surface light illuminating an object and the dark side would be far more pronounced, leading to more intensive/dark shadowing. And as discussed above, the red ball is hard to pick up in the pitch dark, which is essentially what a shadow is.... hence people might conclude it make sense that having floodlights on impacts shadow/visibility.

But in reality, in overcast conditions shadows would naturally be reduced because the intensity of sunlight is lower, leading to less of a contrast between light and dark areas. We also arent talking about pitch dark, so in the daytime you are going to get a lot of reflected light softening a shadowed area by leaking light from all directions in to it. And finally, most importantly, as shadows are merely an absence of light, what happens when you use a lightening from a 360 degree angle on an object? It lights up from all angles, which eliminates shadowing completely. If you do have a shadow from the floodlights then it might be to do with a relative weakness of light source from one side, but the general boosting and reflection of light would render it at a very low intensity, and would result in the shadow being lighter than the ball, which would have no impact on visibility. The lights would also make the pitch surface lighter in contrast to the ball, which would boost visibility even more. And depending on how new the ball is, the reflection of the shiny surface also makes it brighter than the shadowing under lights..... in fact, the pink balls was designed to retain its shine for this sole reason.

Going on the above, you could make a case that in the brightest, most intense daytime sun the problem of ball shadow actually becomes the most acute. With one direct strong light source the illuminated ball would produce an intense contrast to the dark side, producing the most intensely dark shadowing.

[Durhamfootman]

Burns is struggling more and more as the summer goes on.

is it the left arm bowler?

[Arthur Crabtree]

Might be that Crawley is making a bid for his spot.

[sussexpob]

Burns is struggling more and more as the summer goes on.

is it the left arm bowler?

Batsman who rely on a complex technique made up of lots of movements that need to be executed perfectly to get them into position to play the ball will always struggle more when the timing is slightly off. Put simply, there is so much going on before the ball is bowled, he has infinitely more that can go wrong in the result.

The trigger movement where he steps across to the offside is a mess, quite frankly. His head is all over the place and his weight pushing forward. Against Abbas this has translated to him being unable to block his inside line to anything coming back in, because the position he is getting himself into is pushing out towards off stump. And with his head all over the place he keeps playing inside of the line to anything around his fourth stump or on off going away.

I appreciate his technique is a result of a natural physical condition, but in short it really doesnt matter how you bat, how you move around the crease, lift the bat up in the back lift...... if your head is bobbing around like a ragdoll when the bowler throws it in, you are going to be dead at this level. He has an eyesight problem as it is, so it matters doubly for him to remain steady and watch the ball.

Id be interested to study his technique over the years and see if this is a current thing that Pakistan have targeted, or if its just an issue that has crept in... if its the former, then Id drop him now. He has no hope of continuing in test cricket with that problem once teams have cracked it. Hes dead in the water.

[sussexpob]

Been some very average bowling so far. Crawley struggled for an over, and is now sat down tucking into the buffet.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Burns is struggling more and more as the summer goes on.

is it the left arm bowler?

Shaheen has got him three times out of four. Abbas once.

Against WI though, Chase kept getting him, four out of five. Off breaks. Can't remember if he was round the wicket.