Jan 10th, 2018

Jan 10th, 2018

Cricket's law makers say Sunday's record-breaking Ashes heat could have seen play suspended if umpires wished, but claim it would have been a "PR nightmare" to do so.

Temperatures reached above 47C in Sydney on Sunday, with readings near the SCG recording the highest figures for an Ashes match in Australia.

England captain Joe Root bore the full brunt of it, the heat adding to a bug he was already battling.

He went to hospital before the final day with dehydration, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Root's illness prompted former Australian batsman Dean Jones, whose famous double-century in the 1986 tied Test in India left him on a drip, to question whether play should have been abandoned.

But the Marylebone Cricket Club's head of cricket, John Stephenson, said there are already rules in place for umpires to remove players from the field if conditions are unreasonable or dangerous.

"That brought the whole situation to a head, 47 degrees. It would have been a bit of PR nightmare when you have a full house at the SCG," Stephenson said.

"For a Test match when you've got a massive crowd out there, although player welfare is absolutely paramount, I think there are ways of managing it.

"Maybe looking at shorter breaks, more drinks intervals rather than just hauling the players off.

"The umpires have in the past suspended play in extreme weather conditions, whether it's three degrees or 47 degrees - they have in their power to take the players off."

Members of the independent 14-person MCC committee, which includes chairman Mike Gatting, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara and Rod Marsh, also discussed if playing hours could be moved to avoid the heat in meetings in Sydney this week.

Suggestions play could be stopped in severe heat were scoffed at by some current players in the past week, but Ponting said the issue was too serious for them to ignore.

"If it was dangerous for them they would be silly not to support it," Australia's former captain said.

"I played in a game at Sharjah where it was 55 degrees air temperature, and that did get dangerous.

"We had guys that were wandering all over the ground, all over the place. Fast bowlers could only bowl two or three over spells before they went off and had to get into ice vests.

"I know Joe's thing probably wasn't a complete result of just how hot it was, but having one or two players go down seriously ill like that - it's a dangerous precedent not to address."

In other discussions surrounding player safety the committee said it was monitoring Australian and English first-class trials surrounding replacement players for concussions, but pushed for mandatory use of helmets and stem (neck) guards in all professional cricket.

©AAP2018