The BBL attempts to set the night on fire in Hobart © Getty Images

Where would modern T20 be without fire? It's made its way into team names - Welsh Fire, Brisbane Heat, Perth Scorchers - and tournaments, it's a mandatory part of matches in the IPL and the Hundred, and where fireworks were earlier reserved for wins in World Cups, they are now merely the opening act before a game. Take the BBL, for instance, that sees more pyrotechnics on the regular than a Rammstein concert.

Not quite what they meant when they said Chris Gayle and Aaron Finch were explosive batters © Getty Images

Though cricketers have been playing with fire for decades now, case in point Geoffrey Williams, captain and opening batter of Ynysgerwn Cricket Club in Wales, who defied death every day on his lunch break.

And you thought World Cup had high-stakes games © Getty Images

Speaking of World Cups, fire is an inseparable part of the experience in the subcontinent. First, before the tournament...

Holy smoke: Indian cricket fans perform a pooja to boost the side's chances of bringing home the 2019 World Cup © Getty Images

Sometimes during the tournament itself...

A lone fan at Eden Gardens watches India's chances at the 1996 World Cup go up in smoke © Associated Press

And it's pencilled into the schedule post the tournament as well.

Crash test dummy: Pakistan fans were a mite unhappy with captain Inzamam-ul-Haq after the team's defeat to Ireland in the 2007 World Cup © AFP

When Paul Collingwood was handed the Olympic torch during a relay in 2012, he thought it would be a great time to make a case for cricket at the Olympics

Sheer torcher: Collingwood attemps to fire one into the stands © Getty Images

A surprising number of cricket matches have been stopped and fans made to evacuate because cricketers have triggered the fire alarm... by burning toast. In 2017 a Shield match in Brisbane had to be stopped after Nathan Lyon forgot a slice in his toaster. In 2019, it happened again in Perth but the arsonist players weren't named. Later the same year, Delissa Kimmince had a toastie misadventure that briefly interrupted a match against Sri Lanka in Brisbane. The lesson here? Take away the cricketers' bread. Let them eat cake.

Kimmince parades the guilty toast outside the dressing room © Getty Images

In 2019-20 Australia was ravaged by bushfires in one of the worst fire seasons on record in the country. Though a seasonal event, it had never been as catastrophic as it was that year. Cricket stepped into the breach to help, with a number of bushfire relief charity matches.

But there have been times when bushfire season was no reason to cancel a game.

Fielders debate who's going to fetch the ball after the batter ramped one to deep fine leg in Cessnock, New South Wales © Getty Images

Apparently England have always been big on bonding sessions around campfires. They did it on safari in 2003 in South Africa, and again at a pre-Ashes camp in Nuremberg in Germany that included strenuous physical and mental tasks, like who could make the most smores and who'd survive the ninth singalong of "Wonderwall".

Elemental disintegration: England find themselves in the hot seat © Getty Images

Deepti Unni is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

 

RELATED ARTICLES