It’s been talked about for literally decades now, and experimented with in various forms of the game. But finally (whether you like it or not) cricket‘s first ever Day/Night Test Match is upon us, and it’ll happen in Australia.
The upcoming Australian cricket summer schedule has been picked to be the first foray into night time test match play, with the upcoming test against New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval to be the first to switch on the lights.
Australia’s 2014/15 Test Schedule was officially launched today, with both the Chappell-Hadlee and the Sir Frank Worrell trophies up for grabs in two successive series of three matches each.
The Kiwis will be the first to arrive on our shores, playing three tests during November, with a visit from the West Indies to follow in December and January.
But it’s the third test in Adelaide, scheduled to start on November 27th, that will draw the most attention. Though no official time has been set as of yet, it’s possible that play could commence at 2:30pm and run until 9:30pm each day.
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland stated that the move to a day/night format means that more people could potentially attend the game in person, as well as giving TV viewing audiences greater opportunity to watch the game at home.
“One of the global challenges with Test cricket is that most of the matches outside holiday periods are played on week days, in the middle of the day when people are at work and kids are at school.”
“By shifting the playing times each day’s play can go into the evening and allow people to come in after work or after school to attend the last few hours of play but also when they get home in other parts of the world or other parts of the country, they can watch the game on TV.”
Meanwhile New Zealand Cricket boss David White stated that the move was necessary for the game’s administrators to keep pursuing modernism and evolution within cricket’s most revered match format.
“Since the first Test in 1877 there have been numerous changes to the laws and rules in an effort to ensure the game remains relevant and this is another.”
“As administrators we owe it to the game to keep exploring ways of moving forward.”
The match will feature the use of a Pink Kookaburra ball for the test, which has been trialled within Australia in the past during day/night Sheffield Shield matches.
The announcement of current Test opening batsman Chris Rogers‘ decision to retire at the end of the upcoming Ashes tour of England removes one curious potential hurdle from selectors. Rogers, owing to his colour-blindness, has difficulty seeing the pink ball.
Other changes to the traditional test format that the day/night setup could bring include the shifting of the 40 minute “lunch” break to between the second and third sessions of each day’s play. The first session break would still be referred to as tea and would last 20 minutes. The long 40 minute break would then come later in the day’s play and be referred to as dinner.
The plus side of this is working people’s ability to watch more test cricket either at the ground or at home after they finish work. But still, part of the thrill of test match cricket is in the morning starts and the idle viewing during a warm summer’s day.
But that’s only one match this year. At the very least, it’ll be an interesting experiment.
AUSTRALIAN TEST SCHEDULE 2014/15
First Test – vs New Zealand
November 5-9 at the ‘Gabba, Brisbane
Second Test – vs New Zealand
November 13-17 at the WACA, Perth
Third Test – vs New Zealand (D/N)
November 27-December 1 at the Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Fourth Test – vs West Indies
December 10-14 at Bellerive Oval, Hobart
Fifth Test – vs West Indies
December 26-30 at MCG, Melbourne
Sixth Test – vs West Indies
January 3-7 at SCG, Sydney
Photo: Morne de Kirk via Getty Images.
