Nepean will bring in heat rule next summer to protect cricketers

EXPECT a heat rule to be brought in by the Nepean District Cricket Association (NDCA) next season.

Cricketers won’t have to play in 45 degree heat next season if the NDCA has its way.

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EXPECT a heat rule to be brought in by the Nepean District Cricket Association (NDCA) next season following last weekend’s extreme heat which forced the cancellation of all games on Saturday and Sunday.

Last Thursday night the NDCA committee all agreed that games should be cancelled when they knew temperatures on Saturday would skyrocket in to the mid 40s.

NDCA president Pat Yates said it was unprecedented to call cricket off in Penrith.

“It’s never happened here,” Yates said.

Michael Lopez cuts a ball away on a cooler day.

“Most feedback was that it was going to be too hot to play and some clubs were concerned. There was no-one on the committee that was against the decision to call play off

“We had a few teams, from big clubs in top grades, saying they’d forfeit.”

Most sports have heat rules or guidelines and even some cricket districts will automatically call off a match if it reaches a certain temperature.

Cricket even has a the 13.6 Lighting Rule – which states play shall cease immediately in the event that a lightning flash is followed by thunder less than 30 seconds later. Play shall not resume until 15 minutes after the last such lightning flash (this does not constitute a break in play for the purposes of the status quo rule).

Cricket was called off last weekend due to extreme heat.

“Other sports have heat rules and I think we will in next season,” Yates said.

“The duty of care we have to the players was discussed and we’ve got to look after them. We didn’t want someone to collapse and pass away on the field.”

The week before last weekend’s round recorded temperatures in the low 40s on the Sunday and some players fell ill due to heat stress which alarmed the NDCA and made it easier for them to call off last weekend’s matches.

“It’s 45 degrees but what’s the ground temperature,” Yates said.