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| Thursday, 4 December 2003 |
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Cricket and climate in Sri Lanka Lareef Zubair The question is often posed as to why it always rain whenever there is International cricket in Sri Lanka. Indeed, the climate of Sri Lanka has achieved certain notoriety among cricket writers and players overseas. The weather gods may be upto their own mischief, as the question implied, but a case is made in this article that the choice of venues or schedules has not improved the odds of uninterrupted cricket. Humans in Sri Lanka have migrated to the Western Slopes of the central mountains of Sri Lanka over the last millennium for several reasons including the abundance of rainfall. Cricket administrators want this audience but are left with a catch-cricket does not agree with high rainfall. Of course, our climate is not the only concern in scheduling cricket matches. The more established teams prefer to tour during winter when they cannot play at home. England prefers to travel from November to February. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Zimbabwe from May through September. India, Bangladesh and Pakistan would rather travel during the monsoon periods from June to September. Among the cricketing nations with Test status, it is only the Caribbean countries and Sri Lanka that are equatorial and offer chances of year-round cricket. Given these constraints, it is possible to improve the odds of uninterrupted cricket by understanding the regional and seasonal variation of climate at different Test venues in the island. Sri Lanka Unlike in India, rain falls year-round in Sri Lanka with some seasonal and regional patterns. There is heavy rainfall throughout the island from October to December and April through May. In addition, there is rainfall between June and September in the western slopes as strong winds from the west steer warn moist air up the mountain slopes. This rainfall reaches a maximum around 15-km to the windward side of the mountain crest while being least both at the Western Coast and at the top of the hillcrest where Watawala, Ratnapura and Matale have heavy rainfall. The rainfall on the western coast is enhanced from May to September because the sea breeze carries moisture into the coastal regions and is augmented during the period of westerly wind. There is a topographic augmentation of rainfall on the eastern slopes as the winds arrive from the North-East from December to February. There is less rainfall on the Eastern slopes as the winds are only half as rapid as that during June to September. These winds are slower and colder since they blow from the snow laden Himalayas and carry much less moisture than rapid warm air. This is why there is much more rainfall on the western side of the hills rather than on the eastern. Implications for Cricket What does all this amount to for cricket? One may infer straightforwardly that: * From a climatic viewpoint, it is best to arrange for test venues away from the mountain slopes such as Kurunegala, Dambulla, Jaffna, Trincomalee and Hambantota. * If you must play cricket to the South of Dambulla use locations on the leeward side such as Badulla and Pallekelle during May to September or Dambulla, Ratnapura, Radella and Peradeniya during December to early January. * It is best to arrange for cricket from late-January to early-April. * The second best period is from June to mid-September particularly outside the western slopes. * It is best to avoid cricket during October to December throughout the country and particularly in the North-East and the period between April to June particularly on the western slopes. But, if one must play then Pallekelle, Dambulla or even Kandy is preferable to Colombo and Galle. * If one must have cricket in December, then Colombo, Galle and Radella are preferable to Kandy. Thus from a climatic standpoint, developing test venues in Dambulla (and North-East of it), Kurunegala, Pallekelle, Radella and Badulla are preferable to any other venues in the South-West of the Island. Cricket Schedules Several of the past tours had been scheduled in the October to December period. The present tour by the British is taking place during a period of heavy rainfall. The chances of uninterrupted play would have increased dramatically if the tour had been postponed to January. The table, Sri Lankan cricket schedule till 2010 shows, on average, there are two home series per year and the approximate dates on which the tours are due to start - the majority of tours are poorly scheduled. The series scheduled to start between September and November run a high risk of being rain interrupted. There is one series that is due to start in May which too is a high-risk period. Scheduling tests in Dambulla or Pallekelle should help. The prospect of interruption of other series that start in-between May and August may be improved by scheduling in Pallekelle, Dambulla or Kurunegala. Farmers and Cricketers As for cricket, one cannot even with the most sophisticated understanding of climate be certain of uninterrupted play but it is certainly possible to improve the odds tremendously by examining the historical climatic record. There are many cricketing statisticians who cook up all kinds of minutiae and others who analyze the odds for betting. It would be well worth it to examine the odds on the likelihood of interruptions for different weeks at different test venues. Either that or one can ask the farmers in the neighbourhood who would tell that October, November and December, the start of the Maha cultivation season, is best for making a muddy field and certainly not to host cricketers. |
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