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Shady times

Hello darkness, light's old friend

 Getty Images

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.

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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.

 Timothy A Clary / AFP

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

 Anthony Devlin / PA Photos

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

 Rajesh Nirgude / Associated Press

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

 Mark Leech / Getty Images

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.

Nishi Narayanan is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo