The International Cricket Council (ICC) congratulated Cricket Australia (CA) and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) on their landmark decision to play a day-night Test in Adelaide from November 27 to December 1.
“It’s to be applauded. Day-night first class cricket has been trialled in a number of countries. Australia and New Zealand are taking the step now, quite a bold step, in staging a match, the first of its kind. It’s a recognition of the fact that cricket is obviously about the players but it’s also about the fans and we want to grow cricket worldwide,” ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said on Monday night.
“We want cricket to sustain itself, especially Test cricket, well into the future. It needs to increase and continue to grow, keep the fans flooding back and coming to watch Test cricket. For that reason, I congratulate the New Zealand and the Australian players for agreeing to be taking that step into the unknown and having the courage to do so.”
The ICC approved of the playing conditions for day-night Tests in 2012 after successful trials of pink balls in Australia, England, Pakistan and South Africa. The ICC Cricket Committee in its May meeting in Mumbai had once again encouraged the member boards to take advantage of these playing conditions and play Tests under lights.
The chief executive also stressed the reason behind developing such a concept is to have more people coming to the grounds for the longest format of the game.
“We have to play Test cricket at times when it is convenient for people to come and watch. We have seen trends in some countries, not necessarily England and Australia, but certainly in a number of other member countries, attendances for Test cricket are reducing,” Richardson said.
