By: Jay Yi

Cricket, the second most popular sport on the planet, might soon unravel because of climate change. Cricket has been affected greatly by the heat, especially in nations more affected by climate change such as England and Australia .

In one game, temperatures reached 111 degrees Fahrenheit. According to Akeal Hosein, “It honestly felt like you were opening an oven.” To counter the heat, players wore ice vests when not in play.

The heat got so unbearable that some spectators fainted from the heat. To fight the heat, spectators got mist fans and drank lots of water during the match. Staff members helped by filling spectator water bottles. Some matches were canceled because of rain, smoke, pollution, and dust.

The International Cricket Club hasn’t done much to counter these effects. They haven’t signed an agreement with the UN to reduce all carbon emissions by 2050. They have also not created a set of guidelines for play in extreme weather.

They’ve only implemented more frequent water breaks. When a player was hospitalized because of dehydration and heat stress, the head of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association asked,” What will it take [for there to be an extreme policy]— a player to collapse on the field?”

One Australian player commented that one time, when playing in tons of smoke, breathing felt like, “smoking 80 cigarettes a day.” When players were asked about the heat, one said, “We are used to it. “I don’t focus on the heat because if I start thinking about it too much I will start feeling it more.”

Some cricketers feel that they and rich people should start cutting down on emissions. Dario Barthley, a spokesman for the West Indies team responds, “In the U.S., people are flying on private jets while they’re asking us not to use plastic straws.”