Get the cards out
Things that annoy me
Watching the annual “Pink” cricket Test at the SCG and I see, as is normal for that Test, that they're not playing.
The playing cards historically get a good workout for this Test, blighted by rain interruptions.
This time though, off for bad light. This means that despite the ground being floodlit (and cricket being playable at night) the conditions are unsafe for fast bowling.
Cricket is a game that historically could only be played in near perfect Summer conditions. No rain and decent sunshine. A few drops or overly cloudy and off the payers go for a game of cards until the conditions improved. It defies belief that the game was actually invented in England, given their stereotypically lack of either. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that back in ye olde times cricket was actually a con. The chaps would head off for “a game” but conditions meant they'd spend the whole time in the clubroom drinking ale. It was only when a few wives starting turning up to watch that the ruse was at risk of exposure, so the chaps hastily threw together a game lest they be discovered. Which goes some way into explaining some of the rather befuddling rules of traditional cricket.
But in modern times, with competition for the public's entertainment dollar fierce, cricket would be well advised to figuring out a way to safely keep the players out on the field, playing, during scheduled play when it is not raining. Like now.