Shady times

Watching the Kandy Test interrupted by bad light made me think of the role light, natural and artificial, plays in cricket. And where there is light, there are shadows.

As in the picture above, from the 2006-07 one-day final between Victoria and Queensland, where a boomerang-shaped strip of sunlight illuminates the MCG pitch while darkness swallows up the fielders surrounding it.

Great players cast long… Ricky Ponting and his spindly companion walk back after making 158 at Sabina Park in 2008.

With shadows like these, you could create the illusion of having of a well-guarded outfield. Alice Springs, 2013.

Fielders? Fans? Impatient batsmen awaiting their turn? Mumbai, 2007.

Instead of shadow-batting (which would be too predictable for this blog's sensibility), here's a picture of shadow-boxing, from Lord's in 1984. The combatants: 26-year-old Malcolm Marshall (left) and 22-year-old Richie Richardson.