By IANS
Sydney : Cricket Australia is toying with the idea of having day-night Test matches in what could be the biggest departure from the traditions to which the game has held on for 130 years.
“We are tossing it around and working out the fundamentals,” Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland told The Australian. A trial for day-night Test cricket will be the biggest revolution in cricket since Kerry Packer brought in World Series Cricket 30 years ago. Initially, it could be held as a trial and it could happen as soon as within three years.
Cricket Australia’s plan is clearly a move to attract the audiences that are moving towards one-day and Twenty20 matches with the five-day games seeing dwindling numbers.
In India, where cricket is played during winter and limited by short days, day-night cricket could extend the season. In Australia, there are light towers at every Test venue except Hobart.
Sutherland said the day-night Tests would make the game available to more people.
“Cricket is sport but it’s also entertainment and as administrators our responsibility is to meet customers’ needs.”
Officials are examining the possibility of scheduling games from 2 p.m.-9 p.m. or 3 p.m.-10 p.m., as that would allow more people to come to the grounds rather than watch on television.
Test cricket in Australia traditionally begins at 11 a.m. and finishes around 6 p.m. and always includes weekends. Weekdays have seen very small numbers as people are at work. And also, the game does not fall in TV’s prime viewing periods.
“I’m not going to say we will do it for all Tests,” Sutherland said. “I am saying that in order to meet consumer demands and to satisfy, if not fuel, consumer interests in the game it would appear there are many good reasons why we should be playing Test cricket at night.”
Day-night ODIs introduced by Packer in November 1978, using yellow and later white balls, were a big hit with TV audiences and crowds who came to the ground after work.
Sutherland said the move was not being driven by television rights holder Nine Network and claimed he had not spoken with the network about the idea.
The paper also reported Australia captain Ricky Ponting was not overjoyed with the idea when approached last night. “I’m a bit of a traditionalist. I wouldn’t like to be changing the way Test cricket is looked at and played too much,” he said. “We had day-night Shield games a while ago, although I didn’t play in them. They played a lot in Perth, they played a lot in Brisbane, and by all accounts they were a nightmare for batsmen.”
A big problem for night cricket is finding a ball that can be seen and that can endure the rigours of Test matches. Trials with day-night state matches in the past encountered problems with seeing the yellow ball, particularly at dusk, and also the amount of dew that fell on some grounds.