cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, a sight screen is an apparatus, often comprising wooden or poly-carbonate slats, or

cloth Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is n ...

sheeting, on a large frame made of wood or another material, that is positioned alongside the

cricket field A cricket field or cricket oval is a large grass field on which the game of cricket is played. Although generally oval in shape, there is a wide variety within this: perfect circles, elongated ovals, rounded rectangles, or irregular shapes with ...

to provide the batsmen a clear view of the bowler's deliveries, such that distractions including spectators do not disturb the batsman. Typically, two sight screens are actively deployed on a field during live play, each positioned a short distance behind the boundary rope. From the perspective of a

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

facing a delivery on the pitch, one sight screen is directly past the bowler's end, or at the straight boundary, while the other is directly behind the batsman, or at the long stop boundary. In limited overs matches such as

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s or

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

s, which are usually played with a white ball, the sight screen is usually black, or otherwise dark. In

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

matches, in which a red or pink ball is used for play, the sight screen is usually white. Sight screens have, on occasion, not been large enough to entirely cover the critical area for the batsman to effectively view the bowler's delivery. Groundskeepers may make such decisions to allow for more spectators into the ground. Similarly, sight screens have in the past been used for

display advertising Digital display advertising is online graphic advertising through banners, text, images, video, and audio. The main purpose of digital display advertising is to post company ads on third-party websites. A display ad is usually interactive (i.e. ...

, compromising their darkness (in limited overs matches) or whiteness (in Tests). On such occasions, batting sides have often expressed frustration, especially if particular batsmen experienced difficulty in effectively seeing the ball during a fast bowler's delivery.

Jacques Kallis Jacques Henry Kallis Order of Ikhamanga, OIS (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former professional cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as one of the greatest all-rounders ever t ...

lost a wicket to an

Andrew Flintoff Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff (born 6 December 1977), is an English television and radio presenter and former international cricketer. Flintoff played all forms of the game and was one of the sport's leading all-rounders, a fast bowler, middle-ord ...

full toss at Edgbaston Cricket Ground under these circumstances during South Africa's tour of England in 2008, an incident that triggered much debate at the time. In today's game, advertising in ICC-sanctioned Test matches is only allowed on the sight screen behind the

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

, so that it must be removed every other over and then replaced again after the next over is played from the other end. The sight screen serves a similar function to the batter's eye in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

.Dan Holmes
Origins behind some puzzling baseball terms.
Wahoo Sam.

References

{{commons category, Sight screens Cricket equipment

See also

References