In what can be termed as fascinating news for all cricket fans across the globe, the next edition of the Ashes in 2017/18 could involve a Day and Night test. Speculation has been rife surrounding the future of test cricket, with pundits terming Day and night tests as the ultimate future of the game.
The Australia-England rivalry has been the oldest and the most traditional rivalry in the game. Both the sides give it their absolute best to outclass one another. The pink ball under lights will just add more spice to this loved rivalry. Cricket Australia (CA) CEO, James Sutherland in his interaction with cricket.com.au hinted that if things progressed as per plans, one of the tests in 2017/18 Ashes might well be played under lights.
“In the next 12 months, we are going to see Test cricket being played in other countries other than Australia,” said Sutherland about D/N tests. “I’m very confident that other member boards will be keen to do that and it’ll become part of regular series. It might well be possible to have a day-night Test in the Ashes series in 2017-18. “We are hopeful that the big picture will prevail and hopeful of making Test cricket more accessible to the fans and for those who will be sitting in at home and watching it after office or school. We know the success of the Adelaide Test last year and that’s one of the reasons why we are so enthusiastic of going down this path.”
Sutherland was optimistic about South Africa accepting CA’s offer to play a D/N test later this year. “As we know from last year we’ll see an enormous attendance at a day-night match in Adelaide. It’ll be a bigger crowd than the South African players have ever seen before. To some extent that can add a little bit of extra trepidation when they haven’t played under lights before; hopefully as part of the plan here we’ll provide as much opportunity for them to prepare with pink balls and under lights both back at home and leading into the Test match. It’s a lot about making sure they have a comfortable preparation to get themselves ready for that game,” Sutherland said.