Coach of the English cricket team, Chris Silverwood has said that England would be willing to begin their matches for the third Test at an earlier time. England is currently hosting Pakistan in a three-Test series and the second test, which ended this week, was marked by bad weather and bad lights, which forced the innings to end quickly. This week’s test would go down as one of the shortest in history with only a day and a half worth of play and a total of 134.3 overs in a course of five days.

Silverwood’s support is by no means a final decision as there would still be a lot on consulting to do but it seems the obvious route to follow given how awful the second Test was. Skipper for the team, Joe Root, had earlier suggested that they begin the day half an hour earlier than scheduled. Matches are supposed to start by 11:00 AM but the suggestion now is to start matches in the third Test by 10:30 AM.

According to Silverwood, “in my opinion, it will probably be a good idea. I know there is chat around it so we’ll just wait to see what they [the ECB] come back with. But there would be no complaints from us should it happen. We are all here anyway.” Beginning the day early would give the teams ample chance to play before the day gets ruined by the weather. Silverwood also made further suggestions on the use of a brighter pink ball and floodlights go aid visibility.

Throughout the week, it has been observed that there was excellent weather 1 to 2 hours before the match, only for the rains to start after the match begins. By starting earlier, players would have more time for actual play before it gets too dark to see or before being stopped by the weather. But it is not easy to change the time of a cricket match as it would always go on as scheduled even if the weather forecast brings an update. It may be necessary for the ICC to step into the issue, as suggested by former captain Michael Vaughan, to ensure that the third Test goes as smoothly as possible.

Written by: Leon Osamor