Cricket may soon erase Duckworth and Lewis from its memory. Rain stoppages and abandoned matches too may become part of distant memory. All this if Yorkshire’s plans to build a retractable roof over Headingly spreads to cricket stadiums all over.
According to a Cricinfo report, Yorkshire have planned to install the world’s first retractable roof over a cricket stadium at Headingly – at a cost which has not yet been revealed. The roof is said to cover the entire playing field and will prevent wet conditions from hampering the passage of play. Called the All Sip Roof system, the cover is expected to be put into place by the 2019 World Cup and the Ashes Test against Australia.
Headingley has a rich cricketing legacy with the first Test here being played in 1899. Home to the Yorkshire County Cricket Club, the venue has seen several matches being either interrupted or abandoned due to inclement weather. The latest project though may put a permanent end to these.
While Headingley will become the first cricket venue with such a system in place, it will surely not be the first sporting venue to get such a lift. The center court at Wimbledon and the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne have retractable roofs in place. Several larger venues – particularly for field sports – also feature a cover. The list includes AT&T stadium in Texas which boasts of a capacity of 105,000.
