Test cricket is potentially to undergo one of the most dramatic changes in its 135-year history. After being lobbied, principally by Cricket Australia, the ICC has agreed to the concept of day-night Test cricket.
A media release from the ICC’s Dubai headquarters yesterday paved the way for the most traditional form of the sport to be time shifted.
In part, the release stated that:
“Participating countries may agree to play day/night Test matches. The home and visiting boards will decide on the hours of play which will be six hours of scheduled play per day while the two boards will also decide on the precise brand, type and colour of ball to be used for the match.”
The rationale for the move, as pushed for by Cricket Australia, is to try and bolster dwindling Test crowds by shifting the playing hours to include more post-work friendly times.
CA can also see a potential financial windfall as well.
Not surprisingly, the long-term TV broadcaster of the sport in Australia, the Nine Network, is delighted with the ICC’s latest pronouncement.
Nine has been pressing the issue with CA for many a year with their focus purely on the cash register.
Each summer the network gets effectively one day-night Test for its east coast audience with the staging of the Perth Test.
As Nine’s Head of Sport, Steve Crawley, said yesterday, “We always enjoy the Perth Test because it comes back into the eastern states in prime time, and I have always thought it’s only a matter of time. I can’t see a downside to it from an entertainment point of view”.
But what sort of entertainment will it be?
One of the major holdbacks for the switch to day-night Tests has been the availability of a suitable match ball.
Over the years, various prototypes of different hues have been trialled.
Pink and fluorescent orange balls have been trialled at various times in Australia in recent years but were found to be unsuitable.
Last season, CA experimented with twilight Sheffield Shield matches with playing times adjusted for an 8pm finish.
Given the lack of a suitable ball, CA decided to use the traditional red ball even when the floodlights became the dominant light source.
It was primarily the ball and its associated problems that saw the twilight Shield fixtures abandoned after just one season with players sensitive to the difficulties of using the red ball under lights.
CA CEO James Sutherland said yesterday that, “Finding a Test ball that is as easily visible in the day as it is at night is still a technical work in progress that the ICC is now leading and it has not yet been possible to predict when such a ball might be available”.
One of the other negatives that has been put forward about the transition to day-night fixtures at Test level is the perceived lack of equality during the twilight period.
It has long been espoused that the most difficult period to bat during a day-night one-dayer is the twilight period with the transition from day to night.
With that in mind, one would hope that the playing times would be programmed to allow the 40-minute ‘dinner’ break to absorb the majority of that time, thus removing the potential disadvantage that would be experienced by the batting side.
The start time of Test matches around the world varies significantly at present.
In Australia the standard start time is 10.30am; in India 9.30am; in England 11am.
But the thought of commencing a match in mid-afternoon is breaking new ground.
One of the problems when it comes to the brokering by a TV network during the rights negotiation period (as is currently occurring in Australia with the present seven-year broadcast deal expiring at the end of this season) is the fact that there will be tremendous uncertainty as to what the future holds.
Even if a ball is able to be developed there is no guarantee it will be used as both teams need to agree to a series being played in the day-night format.
The current TV deal between CA and Nine is valued at $315m over seven years.
Understandably, CA sees the possibility of extracting considerably more money should day-night Tests become part of the landscape.
CA may well want to stage matches on a day-night basis as soon as a suitable ball has been developed.
But their desire for a time change may not be agreed upon by the touring nation or nations each season.
Thus, for the establishment of a TV rights deal one would imagine it will have to contain an inbuilt sliding scale depending upon what is agreed for each series during the period of the agreement.
Should the advent of day-night Test matches become widespread there is likely to be a push for another change in playing conditions – namely the reduction of the total time over which a match is played.
Former Australian captain, Ian Chappell has long supported the trimming of Tests from five days to four and he is not alone in this area.
There may be a push from the TV networks as well to trim the game by one day (and night) to cause less disruption to its normal programme schedule.
Interesting times are ahead for the most traditional and entrenched form of the sport. Test cricket has often been seen as sacrosanct by the game’s traditionalists.
They had better keep a firm hand on their gin and tonics in the future as they face what they would see as a seismic shift in their beloved game.
Bakkies
Guest
I would be happy if play stopped at around 9:30 pm so you can start around lunch time at least. The workers get to see the last session at least and people at the game get to go home early enough. You get enough post dinner time play in England where it's not uncommon for play to continue to 7:30- 8:00pm if there is time to catch up and it's still daylight. Still good enough light for play and the red ball is able to be used. The UK has longer daylight saving hours and none of this nonsense that you have in Australia where certain states opt out of it. I can see the English agreeing to 9pm finish times at least. Living in Europe you don't get to see any live test Cricket from Australia unless you suffer from insomnia or have crying babies. Surprisingly Skysports still pay for the rights even when England isn't playing. Play starts when you are asleep and finishes when it is time to get up for work.
Bakkies
Guest
Some tests don't charge admission for Day 5
Jason
Guest
OK, I am willing to compromise. If Cricket Australia gets any extra money from TV because of night cricket, I will be fully supportive of it if they promise to spend every cent of it fixing up their abysmally useless website.
Brendon
Guest
Dew would be less of an issue in a 5 day (or 4 day) match because the team batting first would have to deal with the twilight/shadow problem and then bat through the dew. With each team batting 2 innings, most often than not longer than 50 overs, and with start/finish of each innings not fixed like in 50/20 over matches you cant really predict who will face dew problems.
Neuen
Guest
White balls do not behave different because of the color.The only difference between the two balls is in the coating. With the conventional red bali, the leather is dyed red, greased and polished with a shellac topcoat. This final polish disappears very quickly during play and it is the grease in the leather that produces the shine when polished by the bowler. The finish applied to the white bali is somewhat different. The leather is sprayed with a polyurethane white paint-like fluid and then heat-treated so that it bonds to the leather like a hard skin. As a final treatment, one coat of clear polyurethane-based topcoat is applied to further protect the white surface so that it does not get dirty easily. As far as the aerodynamics is concerned, the additional topcoat covers up the quarter seam and the effective roughness due to it is therefore reduced.
Neuen
Guest
People go watch test cricket because you can go sit a day in the sun and enjoy the cricket entertainment have a picnic etc etc. Who wants to go do that under the night sky with dew and tv deciding cut off time is at 23:00 test match over. Don't even think a pitch will last for 5 nights as the wear and tear on it especially with moisture and due softening it up, is going to create a pit of death.
Rhys
Guest
If they can't arrive at a workable option with a coloured ball, why not consider adopting the white ball. I know it wears differently and 'greys' up, but it's been used in day/night cricket for 35 years. Playing conditions will surely be affected in some way by shifting to day/night Tests, so why not try to incorporate the properties of the white ball by some additional mods. Players wear coloured pads/gloves - no big deal. Balls are changed after say 35 overs, or two white balls used (one from each end). Players are used to batting/bowling/fielding with the white ball, so any adjustments to their game could be handled with little drama. Would be interested to hear from people what potential problems the white ball option would present. Is it at all feasible?
Russ
Guest
Yes, it would definitely have been the dew and not the shirt-front of a pitch and negative cricket that characterises Ranji trophy knockouts. The BCCI never like anything until they can make money and then they are all-in. This won't be any different. The ball is going to be the problem. Has always been the problem. South African tests weren't positive with the pink one and we are a good decade and a bit past the Australian experiments with orange/yellow with no improvement in visibility or longevity. Will be a short-lived experiment if they can't get it right.
Brett McKay
Expert
Russ, you may or may not be surprised to hear the BCCI have already expressed their lukewarm interest in the idea of night Tests, all based on the unhappy experience of their one and only First Class trial 15 years ago.. http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/india-not-enthusiastic-about-daynight-tests-20121031-28kps.html (Article also mentions issues with evening dew, for what it's worth..)
Rixy
Guest
Four day tests would be a disaster. Encourages defensive play. Teams know they only have to bat for 2 days and a result is almost gone. I quite liked the idea of a 6 day test when Australia played World XI in '05. Although the Aussies cleaned it up in 4 days, both teams knew they had to be playing for a win as a draw was very unlikely. Would love to see Warnie bowling on a day 6 deck!
Tlux
Guest
It’s time for day/night tests. I think the day’s play just needs to be ‘shifted’ one session forward. That is, start session 1 at the time we currently start session 2. This will result in a final 30 over session starting at about 6pm going until about 8:30. I am totally against 4 day tests however. Personally don’t care how that affects channel 9’s schedule, that’s their problem, not ours. The 5th day is the ultimate moderator of the game. It ensures that players are truly tested in their technique and physical fitness (Shaun Tait for example, incredibly lethal in short bursts, but over 5 days, the batsmen will win out). It makes triple centuries and bowling figures of 6-for possible because captains don’t have to declare to ensure a result all the time.
Brett McKay
Expert
Russ, it's purely for what it does the ball; makes it difficult for bowling, batting, and fielding. But your point is not without relevance, I'll concede (as opposed to my spelling of 'dew', of course..) The playing hours, the colour of the ball, most of the 'mere details' actually, will be left in the hands of the competing nations, actually, so there will be a degree of flexibiltiy. In fact, all the ICC have really done is take the same approach to night Tests as they have with DRS - left it up to the two nations to decide..
Russ
Guest
Brett, I've never got the dew argument? How is it different to intermittent wind, rain and heat; or a changing pitch? It makes fielding harder, batting easier, but not unplayable. Same for both sides, and just one more aspect of the tapestry. I'd hope too, that the playing hours can actually be flexible. That is, on the weekend, play would run from 11-6 and on a weekday 2:30-9:30. The players would have a relatively short rest from Friday to Saturday, but not horrific - it is hardly a midnight to 9am switch. On another note, why does the ICC need to allow Day-Night tests? Given hours of play have always been fairly flexible, at what point did they ever legislate against them?
Timmuh
Roar Guru
I don't think moving to night will make any significant difference to attendance. TV,maybe. Its a format that people will follow, but not so many watch for hours on end. Its getting a bit like the Sydney-Hobart, or golf, people want the scores and to know what happened; but don't feel interested enough to watch it all. Going to day/night won't change that. It certainly had no impact when trialled at the instigation of C7 in the Sheffeild Shield in the mid-90s. Administrators will still prefer the quick bucks to be made from the easily digestible T20, the Maccas of cricket - cheap, quick, and lots of consumers.
Brett McKay
Expert
Realistically Glenn, I can only see day/night Tests being played in the southern hemisphere, maybe only in South Africa and Australia, and even then only at a few grounds, just because of the weather variables. For instance, you wouldn't go to night Tests in Perth, because the timezone is already a winner for prime-time cricket on the east coast. You could play them in Adelaide easily, it's a dry heat over there in summer. You could play them in Brisbane and Sydney, but you'd have to get the time of the year right, otherwise you have the summer evening storms, and maybe even due to contend with. Due would certainly be an issue in Hobart (and NZ), too, it often already is in BBL games down there. And Melbourne should be left alone unless Boxing Day is renamed 'Boxing Night'. There is, however, some nice shiny new lights going up at Manuka Oval, though ;-) Similar summer weather to Adelaide, just not quite as hot. Everyone* wins!! * I win...
sheek
Roar Guru
Fair call A1. Well, the way I see it is that 5 day tests are mostly poorly attended now as it is. Day/night tests is actually more lifestyle friendly. Well marketed, so what you lose on the swings you (hopefully) pick up on the merry-go-round.
Winston
Guest
Channel 9 may well have been pushing for it for cash, but it makes a lot of sense for those people who go to work. Night cricket means I can watch some rather than be stuck at work reading live scores. If Channel 9 starts a rally I for one will go behind them!
A1
Guest
Shaving a whole day off proceedings means shaving a whole day off of gate-takings, won't it? Administrators would never agree to that, would they?
Poita
Guest
Regardless of who is holding Gin & Tonics if it is up to the boards to decide I wouldn't hold your breath. Remember that teams were dragged kicking and screaming int using flood lights at Test matches in the event of bad light. The DRS is not used universally and due to the BCCI holding out will probably never find favour. So if a ball can be found ( and this doesn't look likely even after many years of trying) and the boards agree ( see above) their could be day night test matches. As far as channel 9 - would they stop the hour of "news" and ACA? I don't think so lets face it Channel 9 treat viewers with gross disrespect so their thoughts on the matter should be tempered.
Red Block
Guest
Did the bloke from 9 say they always enjoyed the Perth test because it is prime time? What about all the Ashes series where 9 refused to broadcast the first session because it clashed with ACA. It was even worse in Qld for the ODI, with daylight saving, often 9 would return with second innings half over. One year Gilchrist made 114 but in Qld we didn't see one ball of it. Hope the ACB gets it tv deal right and flicks 9!