Day Night Test Plans Abandoned
The ECB's proposed plan to host the first floodlit Test next year has been ditched
after two counties refused to experiment with the pink ball, according to a report in the Sunday Times. The ECB had requested Bangladesh to appear in the first-ever day-night Test during the team's tour of England in May-June next year, but the lack of successful testing has dashed that.
Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, said it was too late for the match to be made a day-nighter. "It needs a proper series of trials and that cannot now be done in time. Playing a Test in anything but white clothing is also an issue."
John Stephenson, the MCC's assistant secretary, said: "There's always resistance to change. We have got to find a ball that's durable and that really is the sticking point. Until we've trialled it in a three or four-day match, we won't know for sure."
The two counties in question, Durham and Worcestershire had been requested to try out the pink ball in their Championship match recently but politely declined. "I was not keen," said Durham's coach, Geoff Cook. "It was a first-class match and I thought we should retain the game's integrity."
The ICC was yet to pass the idea and its approval was subject to suitable equipment being developed for the purpose. One main concern was whether the suggested pink ball retains its colour or needs to be changed frequently due to discolouration or wear and tear, to what extent would batting, bowling and fielding conditions vary and so on.
Last year the MCC trialled the pink balls with a view to replace them with the less durable white ones in one-day cricket. The experiment had some success but reached a dead end when the England board rejected the use of pink balls in the 2009 domestic season, saying they were "little better than white balls".
There is a good case to argue for day/night tests to become a regular fixture across the globe, Test matches could be staged under floodlights to attract greater crowds in countries where the five-day form of the game is less attractive than limited-overs matches. Not only would day-night Tests make it easier for spectators to attend for a few hours after work, rather than having to take the whole day off, but it would lead to greater television audiences.
Bangladesh cricket chiefs have agreed in principle to face England in the first day-night Test match next year. Bangladesh play two Tests in England in May and June 2010, one of which the England and Wales Cricket Board has proposed as a day-night game.
The prospect of Lord's holding the world's first day-night Test match next summer will remain on the shelf until cricket's administrators can work out which colour ball can be used fairly under floodlights. The sport's administrators have a number of concerns, primarily over what colour ball to use.
A white ball is used during day-night one-day internationals but this is not feasible when players are wearing white as they would for a Test match, whilst pink and orange balls have been trialed but the technology of different coloured balls is still in its infancy and the current balls are considered unfit for purpose.
The guardians of the game at the Marylebone Cricket Club must therefore solve the problem before day-night Test cricket can be seriously considered, let alone scheduled. That point was made on Wednesday by an England and Wales Cricket Board spokesman, reacting with some surprise to reports that an inaugural day-night Test between the hosts and Bangladesh has been mutually agreed and therefore simply needs International Cricket Council approval to go ahead in May or June next year.
"Floodlit Test cricket will not take place until the appropriate ball has been tested and approved," said the spokesman.
Test matches could be staged under floodlights to attract greater crowds in countries where the five-day form of the game is less attractive than limited-overs matches. Not only would day-night Tests make it easier for spectators to attend for a few hours after work, rather than having to take the whole day off, but it would lead to greater television audiences.
James Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket Australia, said yesterday: "Cricket's a very popular sport, arguably the second-most popular sport in the world. People watch the game all around the world, but they really watch the game properly on television when it's played at night."
by: Sarfaraz Khan
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