Day/Night Test Cricket Inevitable - Cricket Australia

Day/Night Test Cricket Inevitable - Cricket Australia

Day/night ODI cricket is well established - will Tests now be played under floodlights in Australia before too long?

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Cricket Australia (CA) believe that the advent of day/night Test cricket is 'inevitable', welcoming moves by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to offer boards the option of playing Test cricket under floodlights.

Following ICC Board approval new playing conditions are now in effect which allow day/night Test cricket so long as both host and visiting board agree, and can decide on the exact playing hours and which type and colour of ball is used.

CA Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland is a staunch advocate of day/night Test cricket and believes it offers the opportunity for more fans to watch live cricket.

"Test cricket is by definition played on at least three week days, times when most people are at work or school, and this limits the ability of fans to attend or watch on TV," he said.

"We limit ourselves by staging cricket’s premium format at times when fans often cannot watch.

"We know that the audience for the Perth Test, which is on TV in the evening on the east coast, is up significantly because fans in the East can tune in after work.

"CA has a formal strategic plan that demands that Australian cricket puts fans first and we will now add day/night Tests to the agenda when we talk to other Test nations about their future tours down-under."

However, despite the optimism, Sutherland has cautioned that much work still remains ahead before a day/night Test can become a reality.

"Finding a Test ball that is as easily visible in the day as it is at night is still a technical work in progress that the ICC is now leading and it has not yet been possible to predict when such a ball might be available," he advised.

"The traditional red ball is not regarded as suitable for night cricket because it is not as visible at night as it is in the day, and the ODI white ball is not suitable for Tests as it is not as durable as the red ball and does not last as well as a Test ball needs to last.

"Experiments with other colours such as pink, orange and yellow have seen some promising developments in recent times and Cricket Australia will, together with the ICC and ball manufacturers, continue to encourage research and development that delivers a ball with the optimal colour and durability for Test cricket."

© Cricket World 2012