Most oppressive conditions you've played cricket in....

[Top_Cat]

46 degrees and 90% humidity, 1-over spells saved us from dying. Was ridic. The nurry was hot to the touch, no ****.

[vic_orthdox]

Watched a mate score a hundred on black saturday, 49 degrees, and he'd done a pre-season footy running session in the morning. Unbelievable effort.

[Daemon]

i'm just here to show off and brag, don't mind me.

try fighting a bush fire in 30-35 degrees for four hours after laying hoses for a kilometre to the nearest hydrant while wearing full bunker gear. that's just in singapore. can't imagine what the australian fire fighters must be going through when they come up against those crazy bush fires australia regularly have.

[Burgey]

Played a one dayer in 02-03 when the temp maxed out at 46 degrees. Lost the toss and fielded first. Rolled them cheaply and managed a win. God it was awful playing that day. Horrendous.

[vic_orthdox]

Amazing on super hot days how often you rock and roll a side. Sometimes the curators leave a bit of extra juice in the wicket, afraid it will dry out, plus I think that the extra drinks breaks can favour the bowling side too, more breaks in play make it harder for the batsman.

[BoyBrumby]

**** me. I'd be fairly sure it's never once even actually got to 40° in Blighty.

As with other UK based readers it's mainly been (quelle surprise) the rain that's been remarkable when I've played. Sometimes it's been a struggle to clearly see the middle from the boundary. & the ball literally stops dead because the ground's so waterlogged.

[Burgey]

I recall years and years ago playing in an invitation/ benefit match which one of our local umpires had organised against a Blue Mountains team up at Blackheath.

We were fiedling and this bloke was batting really well when this really thick fog rolled in. You could see from one end of the pitch to the other ok, but not to the boundaries, which were really small.

Anyway, a bloke comes in and bowls this ball and the fella batting absolutely smashed it in the direction of midwicket. I mean he tattoeed it - sounded like agun shot, and it was obvious to anyone who heard or saw the shot that it sailed about 40-50 metres over the deep midwicket fence.

Which didn't stop a mate of mine stationed at said deep midwicket yelling out "Howzat?!"

"What?"

"I caught it".

Genius.

[Monk]

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

**** me. I'd be fairly sure it's never once even actually got to 40° in Blighty.

As with other UK based readers it's mainly been (quelle surprise) the rain that's been remarkable when I've played. Sometimes it's been a struggle to clearly see the middle from the boundary. & the ball literally stops dead because the ground's so waterlogged.

A few years ago here in Victoria, Aust, we had the Black Saturday Fires, that's what I referred to in the OP...

Background
A week before the fires, an exceptional heatwave affected southeastern Australia. From 28–30 January, Melbourne broke records by sweltering through three consecutive days above 43 °C (109 °F), with the temperature peaking at 45.1 °C (113.2 °F) on 30 January, the third hottest day in the city's history.

The heatwave was caused by a slow moving high-pressure system that settled over the Tasman Sea, with a combination of an intense tropical low located off the North West Australian coast and a monsoon trough over northern Australia, which produced ideal conditions for hot tropical air to be directed down over southeastern Australia.[17]
The February fires commenced on a day when several localities across the state, including Melbourne, recorded their highest temperatures since records began in 1859.[18] On 6 February 2009—the day before the fires started—the Premier of Victoria John Brumby issued a warning about the extreme weather conditions expected on 7 February: "It's just as bad a day as you can imagine and on top of that the state is just tinder-dry. People need to exercise real common sense tomorrow".[19] The Premier went on to state that it was expected to be the "worst day [of fires conditions] in the history of the state".

Events of Saturday 7 February
Melbourne air temperature on 7 February 2009 and the preceding and following days.
A total of 3,582 firefighting personnel, mainly from the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE), were deployed across the state on the morning of 7 February in anticipation of the extreme conditions. By mid-morning, hot northwesterly winds in excess of 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph) hit the state, accompanied by extremely high temperatures and extremely low humidity; a total fire ban was declared for the entire state.

As the day progressed, all-time record temperatures were being reached. Melbourne hit 46.4 °C (115.5 °F), the hottest temperature ever recorded in an Australian capital city,[18] and humidity levels dropped to as low as six percent. The McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index reached unprecedented levels, ranging from 120 to over 200. This was higher than the fire weather conditions experienced on Black Friday in 1939 and Ash Wednesday in 1983.[20]
By midday wind speeds were reaching their peak, and by 12:30 pm powerlines were fallen in Kilmore East by the high winds. These sparked a bushfire that would later generate extensive pyrocumulus clouds, and become the largest, deadliest, and most intense firestorm ever experienced in Australia's post-European history. The overwhelming majority of fire activity occurred between midday and 7:00 pm, when wind speed and temperature were at their highest, and humidity at its lowest.

from wiki


The day was unreal, so surreal. Never seen weather like it, and hope to never again. Just dry heat, like an oven, and the wind was so so strong.

[Dexter Morgan]

Kanga League - I guess the only league in the world to be played in puddles of water [0].

[0] Greats moan dwindling interest in Kanga League

[BoyBrumby]

Originally Posted by Monk

A few years ago here in Victoria, Aust, we had the Black Saturday Fires, that's what I referred to in the OP...

from wiki


The day was unreal, so surreal. Never seen weather like it, and hope to never again. Just dry heat, like an oven, and the wind was so so strong.

Jesus. Sounds like one of the signs of the apocalypse or something.

& I've just discovered I share two-thirds of a name with the Victorian Premier. The cheeky get.

[Monk]

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

Jesus. Sounds like one of the signs of the apocalypse or something.

Seemed that way at the time tbh. Alternately, the sort of place you'd send overcrowded convicts to!

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

& I've just discovered I share two-thirds of a name with the Victorian Premier. The cheeky get.

[Noble One]

Speaking of Black Saturday. The same ground I mentioned earlier when it snowed also had its club rooms burnt down in 09.

Two extremes.

[Camo999]

A few years before - I think Jan 03 - played a game in Melbourne when it got to about 46 degrees - I think one of the hottest days on record. Of course we lost the toss and fielded. At various times guys were leaving the field ill. The opposition skipper later said if he'd lost the toss he would have conceded the game. I recall the association bringing in a heat policy very swiftly after that day which hopefully would have prevented any play on Black Saturday which would have been absolute madness.

[doesitmatter]

I once played a match in a ground near the Indian Ocean..Half way thru the match the weather changed completely and gush of wind laden with sand started blowing for the next 30 mins to 1 hr..I was bowling my medium pacers and ended up bowling a 12 ball over.. yes 6 wides and to add to the misery i had one good lbw shout which the umpire turned down and the reason he gave me was when the ball hit the pad he was rubbing his eyes because of the sand..ugh..nasty conditions but fun days..

[Burgey]

Originally Posted by vic_orthdox

Amazing on super hot days how often you rock and roll a side. Sometimes the curators leave a bit of extra juice in the wicket, afraid it will dry out, plus I think that the extra drinks breaks can favour the bowling side too, more breaks in play make it harder for the batsman.

Yeah I wonder if you just resolve to do the job and the batsmen just lose concentration in the heat. It's insane sometimes how hot it gets.

Tbh I didn't mind it when I was younger, it was a good challenge. But the last few years I really felt the heat on this days, especially after umpiring the kids in the mor ing first.