“Before I’d seen the report I hadn’t really thought about how [climate change] would impact the game of cricket. I was really taken aback. The game has to have a plan, a strategy for how we adapt for it.”
Those were the words of the late, great Shane Warne upon reading the pioneering Hit For Six report in 2019. Six years on, the sentiments of one of the finest cricketers in history ring truer than ever.
Since then, cricket-loving nations around the world have been further impacted by extreme heat and seismic weather events such as hurricanes, drought and flooding. As an outdoor summer pursuit played over multiple hours, cricket is regarded as the most climate-vulnerable pitch sport. For this follow-up report to the original Hit For Six, we have honed in and examined the impacts of the climate crisis on a range of test-playing nations.
