Interesting point raised here, and I'd like to hear a medical opinion on it really. I can't help thinking that the medicos who are associated with the teams must have looked at this before, however, as it's really not a new issue. Dehydration is (I think) somewhere around 35-40% through respiration and perspiration, and specifically evaporation of the same. Running around obviously increases the respiration effect, but the perspiration effect can be controlled to a surprisingly large extent by proper clothing. Brits in hot places (tourists, I mean, not professional sportsmen) typically respond to the heat by stripping down as far as possible: they get sunburnt and dehydrated as a result. Look at the average Aussie in Queensland, however, and he will have a long sleeved shirt on and a vest, as well as long trousers in the middle of the day. There's a reason for it, of course. That doesn't stop him needing to take on a lot of water to replace what he loses - but he won't dehydrate anywhere near as fast as the under-dressed do. I don't underestimate the dangers of dehydration at all - no-one who's had even the mildest case of heatstroke will - but my guess is that there are enough professionals monitoring this to keep it under control for the cricketers. They might be drinking a couple of litres or more of fluid every hour and peeing nothing, but as long as they carry on doing it, they'll be OK, I'd expect: it's an amazing thing, the body of the mammal!

Now - is there a doctor in the house who can tell me the above is complete ********?

__________________
Money won't buy you friends. But it gets you a better class of enemy.
Spike Milligan