The ECB and MCC have entered into discussions over potentially funding research into a new technology which could see mesh netting used at cricket grounds to solve the problem of rain stopping play.
Tests are currently being conducted on the new technology which would see a transparent mesh canopy placed over cricket grounds to allow play to continue in adverse weather conditions.
The canopy, which would be held up by wires suspended from floodlights with a hot air balloon in the centre of the field, has been proposed by a company in the United States.
Guy Lavender, the new chief executive of the MCC, is open to all possible solutions.
“There is some interesting technology around trying to create protection from rain and keep the game on in wet weather,” Lavender told Telegraph Sport.
“It is an enormous issue for cricket. When you think about the impact of the weather on cricket in the UK we have a part to play, as a leading club in the game, in thinking about how those new technologies develop and are tested.
“This is part of the conversation we are having with Tom Harrison [ECB chief executive]. How can we help? What would you like us to get involved in?
“The good thing about the MCC is we have the ability to make choices about where we seek to invest and influence.”
Questions remain over the safety of the system in high wind and what to do with run-off water, although the technology could become a reality in as little as two years’ time.
The proposals have been welcomed by the ECB, who could help partner the MCC into research into the project.
“We would look at any new technology and ways to get games on and more people playing cricket,” said an ECB spokesman.
[“Source-skysports”]
