Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland says major test playing nations want to play day-night matches
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland has said that the cricket boards of all major test-playing nations have thrown their support behind day-night matches and nearly half of them also intend to host a game under lights in the next 12 months.
Australia played the first historic day-night test match against New Zealand in Adelaide last year and they are planning for yet another test match under lights against Pakistan. Earlier, South Africa’s players had eschewed from playing a day-night test match against Australia in November citing concerns about the specially developed pink ball and their inexperience playing with it.
Sutherland, who met with South African officials during an International Cricket Council meeting in Dubai on Sunday, said no final decision on the Adelaide Test could be expected until Proteas players returned home from the Indian Premier League tournament.
He said,”"What I heard from (ICC) full member country CEO's in meeting was a very broad-ranging commitment to day-night test cricket and indeed three or four full member countries are planning on hosting test cricket under lights in the course of the next 12 months, which is very encouraging," reports smh.com.au.
According to the report, Sutherland also added, "Certainly India, Pakistan are very keen to play day-night test cricket, I know New Zealand are also keen. To a person, full member countries and their CEOs stated their absolute support of Test cricket being played under lights."
The first day-night test match between the Trans-Tasman rivals in Adelaide generated quite a lot of buzz and generated good crowd numbers as well as television viewers. Amidst the decaying popularity of the longest format of the game, the test match under lights can really be the game-changer in terms of increasing its popularity base.
The first two test matches of the series between Australia and New Zealand saw disappointing turnouts. However, the last day-night test somehow managed to nullify the losses by drawing huge crowds at the Adelaide Oval.
However, South Africa test captain AB de Villiers said that his team had been discouraged from committing to the day-night Test in Adelaide after getting feedback from Australian players, including captain Steve Smith.
Cricket Australia have also lowered ticket prices for Test matches against Pakistan and South Africa during the coming home summer in an attempt to lure the fans back to the grounds. They are also trying to increase the popularity of the longest form of cricket with innovative ideas.