Cricket Australia toying with the idea of Day-Night Ashes Test

Cricket Australia (CA) is keen to experiment on the day-night Ashes Test matches during the 2017-‘18 series. Australia has clearly been encouraged by the successful response to the first-ever Day-Night Test match which was played out between Australia and New Zealand in Adelaide last year.

Australia won the closely-contested match by beating New Zealand by 3 wickets. The Test in itself was a huge hit, as throngs of fans filled the stadium to watch the historic match. The success of the pink ball has had cricket boards around the world toying with the idea to host day-night Tests in their respective countries.

“It is certainly on the radar. We haven’t had any formal conversations with the ECB. With the success of the Adelaide Test match this year, the anticipation is that we will have at least one day-night Test(in 2016),” CA chief James Sutherland said.

Over the course of the historic Test match which lasted for 3 days, over 123,000 supporters had turned up to watch the match in the stadium, with millions more tuning in to watch on the television around the globe. The overall message has been pretty clear. There will be more of the Day-Night Tests in the coming year.

The unique Test is also set to feature in Australia’s home series this year against Pakistan and South Africa, and would mostly be part of the Ashes as well. “It seems like it would be a natural progression for there to be an Ashes day-night Test match in 2017-18.

We’ll have meetings in Dubai with a lot of the chief executives and certainly be talking to counterparts at Pakistan and South Africa. They definitely know it will be on the agenda. The right place, right time and right conditions – we’re going to see more Test cricket played in the evening,” he said.

Despite the positive outcomes, there also has been considerable criticism regarding the Day-Night Tests. Factors such as low visibility and the unpredictable nature of the pink ball were a cause of concern among the players. But, the results have been encouraging enough to carry forward the unique idea for the survival of Test Cricket.