Day/night cricket

Day/Night match at Trent Bridge

Day/night cricket, also known as Floodlit cricket is a cricket match that is played either totally, or more usually partially, under floodlights in the evening. The first regular cricket to be played under floodlights occurred during World Series Cricket, unsanctioned by the International Cricket Council, attracting large crowds to see some of the world's best players compete in Australia and the West Indies. In 1979, when the ICC and World Series Cricket came to an understanding, the first floodlit One Day International was played, also in Australia. Floodlit cricket has since been played around the world, although England was slow to take it up due to their climate.

Flood-lit first-class cricket was first played in 1994, when the concept was tried during the Sheffield Shield.[1] Day/night cricket is now commonplace in one-day cricket and Twenty20 cricket. For instance, all 27 matches in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 were day/night matches, as were most matches in the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

In October 2012, the International Cricket Council recast the playing conditions for Test matches, permitting day/night Test matches.[2] The first day/night game took place between Australia and New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval, Adelaide on 27 November 2015, 36 years to the day from the first ICC sanctioned day night match.[3]

History

It is believed that the first match to be played under floodlights took place on 11 August 1952, between Middlesex County Cricket Club and Arsenal Football Club. The match was a benefit for Jack Young, and was not the first benefit match held between the two sides. Floodlights at Arsenal's Highbury ground had been installed in the summer of 1951, and were first used for football in October 1951. The cricket match took place at 19:30, the lights were turned on towards the end of the first innings, in which Arsenal were batting. A public announcement was made, advising spectators (of which there were just over 7,000) to "Keep your eye on the ball, when you see it coming keep low. The batsmen will try to keep it down but they can't promise." The match was televised on the BBC, with over a million viewers tuning in to watch the spectacle. The Times was not convinced of the success of floodlights in cricket, mischievously asking: "What is to prevent non-stop Test matches where the last wicket falls as the milkman arrives?"[4]

It appeared that the cricketing world concurred with The Times that playing cricket under floodlights was not a viable concept, and for over twenty years Jack Young's benefit remained a one-off. However, in 1977, when Kerry Packer bought over 50 of the world's leading cricketers to play in his World Series Cricket, the concept came to the fore.[5] After initial attendances at the matches were low, Packer moved from so called "Supertests" to one-day cricket, generally played under floodlights. Attendances of roughly 2,000 had attended the "Supertests" between Australia and the West Indies at the Australian rules football stadium, VFL Park in Melbourne in November 1977. A year later – almost to the day, 44,377 people were inside the Sydney Cricket Ground to watch a floodlit one-day match between the same sides. Opposition to World Series Cricket was large, and the matches did not have Test cricket nor first-class cricket status. In 1979 an agreement between the Australian Cricket Board and Kerry Packer brought World Series Cricket to an end.[5] The marketing potential of floodlit cricket had been noticed though, and the first floodlit One Day International was contested in November 1979 between the official cricket teams of Australia and the West Indies.[6]

Floodlit cricket was soon taking place not only in Australia, but also in South Africa, the West Indies and the subcontinent. In England, opposition remained firm; not only was there lingering hostility towards Packer's World Series Cricket, but the differences in climate make the application difficult. In contrast to Australia and South Africa, where twilight is minimal, and the light fades quickly, the long English evenings meant that the floodlights would only be required for the last hour or so of a match. The increased chance of rain also meant that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was loath to spend money on permanent lights, when rain would stop play anyway.[7]

Day/Night cricket is now commonplace in one-day cricket and Twenty20 cricket. For instance, all 27 matches in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 were day/night matches, as were most matches in the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

Day/night first-class matches

A used pink ball
A day/night first class game

During the late 2000s, discussions regarding the possibility of playing day/night Test matches occurred. In the West Indies, the first floodlit first-class cricket match in which the teams used a pink ball, was played between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago[8] The viability of using a pink ball was also tried out by Cricket Australia and some Indian Premier League and Bangladesh Cricket League franchises.[9] The annual curtain-raiser to the English cricket season in 2010 was played under floodlights in Abu Dhabi, with a mixed but generally positive reception.[10] A year later, the first County Championship game to be played under lights was played in 2011 between Kent and Glamorgan at St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury.[11]

The 2013–14 Sheffield Shield season included three-day/night first-class matches with pink balls.[12] The trials continued in 2014–15 as Cricket Australia looked to host the first day-night Test in 2015 against New Zealand.[13] The first day/night Test match took place between Australia and New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval, Adelaide on 27 November 2015.[3]

India's first pink ball match took place in Kolkata on 18 July 2016. It was CAB Super League Final between Bhowanipore Club and Mohan Bagan. Mohan Bagan won the match by 296 runs. The 2016 Duleep Trophy matches were played under the lights in Greater Noida. Feedback of the ball was that because of the brightness of the colour of the pink ball, the team handling the camera was able to track the pink ball better than the red ball. However, catching the long shots during the day light was relatively difficult vis-a-vis the red ball.[14] In September 2016, the BCCI confirmed that there would be no day/night Tests in India during the 2016–17 season.[15] Incidentally, the first day-night first-class match in India was held much earlier. In 1997 April, the Ranji trophy final was played at Gwalior India under lights between Delhi and Mumbai which was thought to be an innovative idea. Though no pink ball was used, play was carried out using a white ball for 5 days.

The second day/night Test took place between Pakistan and the West Indies on 13–17 October 2016.[16] In October 2016 the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed that the first Test between England and the West Indies in August 2017 would be played as a day/night game.[17]

Australia played two day/night Tests in their home summer of 2016/17. One against South Africa in Adelaide and one against Pakistan in Brisbane. In December 2016 it was confirmed that the first ever Ashes day/night Test will take place in Adelaide in December 2017.

On 7 March 2017, Cricket Australia confirmed that the first ever women's day/night Test would be played between Australia and England. The day/night test will be the sole Test of the 2017–18 Women's Ashes series and will be played at the North Sydney Oval.[18]

List of day/night tests

Men's

No. Date Home team Away team Venue Start time (local) Result
1 27 November – 1 December 2015  Australia  New Zealand Adelaide Oval, Adelaide 14:00  Australia by 3 wickets
2 13–17 October 2016  Pakistan  West Indies Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai 15:00  Pakistan by 56 runs
3 24–28 November 2016  Australia  South Africa Adelaide Oval, Adelaide 14:00  Australia by 7 wickets
4 15–19 December 2016  Australia  Pakistan The Gabba, Brisbane 13:00  Australia by 39 runs
5 17–21 August 2017  England  West Indies Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham 14:00 TBC
6 19-23 October 2017  Pakistan  Sri Lanka Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai 15:00
7 2–6 December 2017  Australia  England Adelaide Oval, Adelaide 14:00
8 22-26 March 2018  New Zealand  England Eden Park, Auckland 14:00

Women's

No. Date Home team Away team Venue Start time (local) Result
1 9–12 November 2017  Australia  England North Sydney Oval, Sydney 14:00

References

  1. ↑ "Bulb breaks on nights in whites". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  2. ↑ "ICC paves way for Day-Night Tests". Wisden India. 29 October 2012.
  3. 1 2 "First day-night Test for Adelaide Oval". ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  4. ↑ Williamson, Martin (11 March 2006). "Let there be light". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  5. 1 2 Williamson, Martin. "World Series Cricket". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  6. ↑ "1st match: Australia v West Indies at Sydney, Nov 27, 1979". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  7. ↑ Blofeld, Henry (22 July 2002). "Henry Blofeld: Future still looks dim for floodlit cricket in England". The Independent. London. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  8. ↑ Cricinfo staff (16 January 2010). "Simmons century inaugurates first floodlit game". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  9. ↑ Hobson, Richard (29 March 2010). "MCC hopes pink ball can pass desert trial in season opener". London: The Times. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  10. ↑ "Durham dominate MCC in Abu Dhabi". BBC Sport. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  11. ↑ "Kent get mixed floodlit reaction". BBC News. 9 September 2011.
  12. ↑ "New look domestic schedule announced". Cricket Australia. 7 September 2013. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  13. ↑ Coverdale, Brydon (23 June 2014). "Australia's summer schedule released". Cricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  14. ↑ "Pink is camera friendly, but a day-night Test far away". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  15. ↑ "No home day-night Test this season - Thakur". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  16. ↑ "Pakistan and West Indies to play day-night Test in Dubai". BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  17. ↑ "Edgbaston to host England-West Indies day-night Test". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  18. ↑ "Southern Stars set for historic day-night Test". Cricket Australia. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
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