As fans we are so busy with players & match analysis that we always forget to recognize the beauty of floodlights in the cricket stadium.
Floodlights in cricket stadiums play a crucial role in organizing a night game. As the name suggests, floodlights “flood” the whole stadium with light.
Do you know that there are different types of floodlights that are used in cricket stadiums, some vary in design, some in functioning while some are made on different concepts.
In this post, I will show you 5 different types of floodlights used in cricket stadiums. You will be amazed how they vary with each other.
Types of Floodlights in Cricket Stadium
#1 Pillars Floodlights:
This type of floodlight system is the most common & oldest in a cricket stadium. Majority of cricket stadiums are equipped with this floodlight system.
The concept of this floodlight is very simple. A set of large nos. of lights (15-25) are fitted at the top of a long pillar (25m-35m), ensuring that they are out of the fielder’s eyeline when the ball is hit high into the air.
Further, these 4 or 5(in some cases 6) similar poles are installed at four (or five or six) suitable places of the stadium to illuminate the whole stadium.
Nowadays, LED type lights are replacing the halogen type lights to save electricity & also produce more intensity.
Stadiums: Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai, India), Lords Cricket Ground (London, England), Sydney Cricket Ground (Sydney, Australia) etc.
#2 16 Pillars Floodlight:
This is the most different floodlight system you will ever see from any other stadium in the world. In fact, this type of floodlight is only used in Mohali Stadium located in Punjab, India.
This floodlight has its own significance, Since the Mohali stadium is located very close to the air force base, the pillars of floodlights are very low in size to avoid collision with an airplane.
Now, in order to properly brighten the stadium, the small pillar can’t have 15-25 lights.
Hence, the Mohali stadium is equipped with 16 pillars of floodlights each having 5-10 LED lights.
Stadium: Mohali Stadium, Punjab, India
Fact: Quantity of lights in each pillar & the no. of pillars in each stadium depends upon the size of stadium.
Please do checkout top 10 biggest cricket stadium in world by boundary size
#3 ‘e’ Shaped Floodlight:
This one is quite interesting from others. You will see this floodlight only in Edgbaston cricket ground located in England.
What makes this floodlight different from others is the shape of LED lights cluster in each pillar. When the floodlights of this ground are lit up, fans see the alphabet “e” in each pillar.
The main purpose behind this floodlight is nothing but marketing of Edgbaston. Even if you visit this stadium, you will observe the alphabet “e” everywhere from the parking stand to the food area.
Edgbaston stadium is equipped with 5 pillars of floodlight instead of four because with the shape of the alphabet “e”, 4 floodlight pillars were not sufficient enough to glow up the whole ground.
Stadium- Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Brimingham, England
#4 Ring of Fire Floodlights
This is the most modern & newest addition in the list of floodlights in the cricket stadium. This floodlight breaks the concept of old pillar floodlights.
Instead, large no of high intensity LED lights (300-900) are fitted at the rooftop of the stadium. However, one can plan this type of floodlight before the construction of the stadium, since it requires the perfect round structure of the roof.
What best about this type of floodlight is that this system minimizes the shadows of objects in the ground as compared to pillar floodlights & is also very energy efficient. But it was found that the fielder found some difficulty while catching, since these floodlights are towards the fielder’s eyeline.
Currently, Ring of Fire type floodlights are installed in three recognized cricket stadiums of world.
Stadiums: Dubai International Stadium, Dubai UAE
Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, India
Optus Stadium, Perth, Australia
5. Floodlights with DMX system
Eden Garden Floodlight
The cricket stadium “Eden Garden” located in Kolkata, India always comes with new technology to make this stadium one of the best.
However, this time they come with highly modernized floodlights. The four towers of floodlights have a total 445 LEDs which are operated with a DMX system.
What is special with the DMX system is that it allows the floodlight to synchronize with music and also create various graphics like some shapes, text i.e., “Welcome”, “Six” etc. These floodlights also act as disco-lights.
This makes the atmosphere of the whole stadium surreal during night matches.
Stadium- Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India
See the video below
Video link: https://fb.watch/njCWyRd2xs/
Conclusion
Floodlights play a vital role in brightening up the whole cricket stadium, allowing matches to be played even during the evening or night. There are various types of floodlights with their own benefits & features. Whether it’s the traditional metal halide lights, energy-efficient LEDs, or the ring of fire systems, they all contribute in creating an exciting and surreal atmosphere for cricket fans to enjoy the game.
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