Australia have welcomed the prospect of day-night Tests following a decision by the sport’s governing body that paves the way for the long form of the game to be played under lights.
The International Cricket Council announced that Test-playing nations can now agree to play day-night matches, mutually deciding the hours of play and the colour and type of ball used.
The move was included discretely among new playing conditions for Test, one-day and Twenty20 internationals approved by the ICC and which come into effect today.
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland — a long-time advocate of day-night Tests — believes fans have a better chance of watching matches if they are played at night. He said the ICC decision meant there was one less obstacle to Test matches being moved into the evening.
“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,” Sutherland said. “We limit ourselves by staging cricket’s premium format at times when fans often cannot watch.
“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.”
Sutherland stressed that the ICC decision did not mean day-night Test matches are imminent.
“Finding a Test ball that is as easily visible in the day as it is at night is still a 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 said.
