It was
disappointing for the die-hard Indian fan, as the Team folded without much of
fight in Champions trophy finals – debate would rage on whether it was lack of
skill, tactics or pure destiny ! – none can deny that we are disappointed !! as
the match slipped far and away after that no-ball out of Jasprit Bumrah. Nothing
went Indian way after that !!
In the recent times, there
was much news in UK about Yorkshire skipper Gary Ballance having to his side's County Championship clash against Surrey this
season - reason ? :
match to be played with a pink ball and Balance is colour-blind.
The England batsman conceded that he struggled to see the pink ball when he last
player with it a couple of years ago, finding it difficult to differentiate
between the ball and the pitch. Ballance was named new Yorkshire skipper ahead
of the new season having lost his place in the England Test side.
He succeeded
Andrew Gale in the job at Headingley with Gale stepping up to become head coach
after the departure of popular Aussie Jason Gillespie. Ballance reportedly was in Dubai with his White Rose teammates trying the pink ball out in the nets before Yorkshire
head home.
Colour
is simply light of different wavelengths and frequencies and light is just one
form of energy that we can actually see that is made up from photons. Colour,
is the physical phenomenon of light or visual perception associated with the
various wavelengths in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. As
a sensation experienced by humans and some animals, perception of colour is a
complex neurophysiological process. In science the primary colours are red,
green and blue. However, in art the
primary colours are said to be blue, red and yellow and red which is believable
as with these colours all other colours can be obtained. The retinas in our eyes though have three
types of colour receptors in the form of cones. We can actually only detect
three of these visible colours - red - blue and green. These colours are called
additive primaries. It is these three colours that are mixed in our brain to
create all of the other colours we see... We can see seven main colours of the
Visible Spectrum.
As we know, in Cricket, a sightscreen
is used to help the batsman sighting the delivery of the ball from the hands of
the bowler – it also prevents any major
distractions from occurring in that direction as the batsman is focusing on the
ball. It would be white for the red
cherry and black for coloured balls – what it could be for the experimental
pink balls ?
Sometime back Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade, aiming a comeback was in trouble as he suffers from colour blindness. Wade
has been recalled for the third and the final Test against the Proteas in place
of Peter Nevill with Australia being desperate to evade a first-ever
clean-sweep on home soil after humiliating defeats in Perth and Hobart. The
Victorian gloveman, who was removed from the Test team three years earlier due to due to shoddy glovework, has admitted
that his vision problem makes it difficult for him to play with the pink ball
under lights, but expressed confidence of adapting with it. The test at
Adelaide against South Africa was to be played in floodlights and with pink
ball.
Most of us share a common
colour vision sensory experience. Some people, however, have a color vision
deficiency, which means their perception of colours is different from what most
of us see. The most severe forms of these deficiencies are referred to as color
blindness. Inherited color blindness is
caused by abnormal photopigments. There are three main kinds of color
blindness, based on photopigment defects in the three different kinds of cones
that respond to blue, green, and red light.
Now comes the news that Yorkshire
captain Gary Ballance will feature in the County Championship’s historic round
of floodlit matches later this month after having specialist glasses made to
improve his vision. Although batting was a concern, the greater issue has been
seeing the ball when fielding.
He has declared himself
ready to play after several recent practice sessions, and help from Leeds
optician Simon Falk, who is providing bespoke lenses to help improve his
red/green deficiency and enhance the contrast of the pink against certain
backgrounds. The news is not only a boost to a Yorkshire team seeking a third
Division One title in four years but also to Ballance’s aspirations of an
international recall at a time when Lancashire batting prodigy Haseeb Hameed is
struggling for scores.
With England scheduled to
play three day-night Tests in the next nine months — including one in the
2017-18 Ashes — the 21-cap left-hander will want to show he can maintain the
form that has witnessed a sublime cruise to 727 Championship runs at an average
of 103.85 this summer.
Ballance, who was axed
from the England Test team for a second time in 15 months last October
following a fallow series in Bangladesh, struggled in his only previous match
experience using a pink ball for Yorkshire’s second XI three years ago. However,
the switch from white to the current black stitching on the balls has made a
positive difference and, after trialling five different filtered lenses
designed to improve clarity, he has chosen two sets for the glasses to be made
up. He will select his preferred pair after further practice under the
Headingley floodlights next week.
Few players bat in glasses
these days, Marcus Trescothick took to wearing them last year and credited them
with a spike in his run-gathering. In India,
Virender Sehwag in his later years wore glasses; Anil Kumble switched to
contact lenses after glasses in his earlier years. Have seen Narendra Hirwani wearing glasses;
so did Dilip Doshi and Anshuman Gaekwad.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
18th June 2017.
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