Heat and air quality: who decides, and on what basis.

Australia: Cricket Australia's Extreme Heat Guidelines

Cricket Australia publishes Extreme Heat Guidelines on its support site; the document we read is undated. CA describes the overall risk of heat stress in cricket as relatively low, but says physiological differences put children at greater risk than adults.

No single temperature

CA says that setting one temperature at which play is suspended in all circumstances would be difficult, restrictive and potentially counterproductive, because activities and individual tolerance of heat vary. Decisions rest with the event organiser, tournament referee or director, advised by medical and risk professionals.

Instead the guidelines use two measures: the ambient temperature, and the Bureau of Meteorology's Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), which takes account of wind, humidity and sun. CA says its listed measures must be considered when an ambient temperature of 36 degrees C or more, or a WBGT of 28 or more, is forecast or present. It adds that regions less used to extreme heat may need lower thresholds, contrasting Perth and Hobart.

Who the guidance covers, and what officials can do

CA's player guidance applies to its development and pathway tournaments, including underage and indoor events. Elite and professional matches run under the ICC and CA playing conditions and a separate joint document from CA and the Australian Cricketers' Association, the Heat Guidelines in Australian Cricket. In every case, CA says, the match officials are the sole judges of whether the weather is suitable. The options it lists include:

• moving start times;
• altering or shortening sessions;
• extra drinks breaks and longer intervals;
• stopping play until conditions are safe.

CA also says no restrictions should be placed on players or officials getting fluids during play.

Community and local rules

Cricket NSW said on 8 December 2023 that the Australian Cricket Heat Guidelines should be followed at all times in organised community competitions, matches and training. It said Sydney premier cricket follows the Sydney Cricket Association's Extreme Heat Policy, under which matches had moved to a 9.00am start.

Local associations may not all follow CA's approach of declining a fixed figure. A search summary of a Sunraysia Daily report of 14 January 2023 describes one regional association's policy as cancelling play on a forecast of 42 degrees C or more. We did not open that policy, so the figure is unconfirmed; if it is accurate, some local bodies set objective triggers where CA does not.

England and Wales: the ECB

Wisden reported on 24 June 2026, ahead of a red-alert heatwave, that under ECB guidance professional match officials may add drinks breaks, extend intervals, change playing hours or suspend play, and that the ECB had set no mandatory temperature limit, judging each case on its own. The ECB's guidance for the recreational game is not summarised on this page.

Air quality: the Delhi Test, December 2017

During the third Test between India and Sri Lanka in New Delhi in December 2017, Sri Lankan players wore masks while fielding and bowlers from both sides were seen vomiting. The match was drawn.

The ICC said it had noted the conditions and had asked its medical committee to consider the issue, to guide decisions if similar conditions arose again. The medical committee can make recommendations to the ICC's executive on medical matters in international cricket, and the subject was due to be discussed at the ICC's February 2018 meetings. The BCCI said New Delhi could be dropped from hosting internationals during its peak pollution season in November and December.

Reports gave the pollution level two ways. AFP put peak fine-particle pollution at 18 times the World Health Organization's safe limit, while other reports citing the same US embassy data gave 15 times.

No ICC decision or rule on air quality following that Test was found in the research for this site, so this page does not describe one.

The common thread

Across these documents the same pattern holds. Cricket Australia and, as Wisden reported, the ECB leave the call to match officials and organisers case by case, while at least one local body is reported, unconfirmed, to set a fixed figure. Which rule applies depends on the competition and the body running it.